


Resident Evil: By The Crosshairs

by REFanBoy2012, SuperMutant13



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 15:53:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 50,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3615663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/REFanBoy2012/pseuds/REFanBoy2012, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperMutant13/pseuds/SuperMutant13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's time to re-imagine life in our hands. Ever wondered what would happen if things occurred a little differently then we know? As new characters enter the fray, the new stage of conflict is set.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Dark Celebration

September 1998, in a small midwestern town home to many was at peace. People were walking on the sidewalks, driving in their cars, or just sitting down talking to their loved ones. About almost 100 miles out of the peaceful town, Joey Kennedy, Leon's younger brother of a year ran a hand through his hair. He had been recently informed that Leon had made it into the prestigious special forces unit of the Raccoon City Police Department known as S.T.A.R.S. Joey had stopped at a small diner right off the highway leading to Raccoon City, and was having a small bite to eat, he was right next to a window with a view of his bike in case any asshole tried to do anything funny. He smiled as he sipped on the soda, the fizzy feeling leaving the customary tingle on his upper lip. As he finished his food, he left a tip with the tab, and placed his helmet on his dark brown hair, and smiled, mounting his bike, with a small, thick black box, containing his precious Desert Eagle, a gift from Leon when his older brother received his special issue Samurai Edge about a week prior. Joey's cellphone rang catching the young Kennedy by surprise. He fished his cellphone out of his coat pocket, and steadied his bike with his foot, and answered his phone. "Well, is this my now a cop, older brother?" Joey smiled, with a chuckle. Leon laughed on the other line, "You got it, not much has really gone in yet, considering that I had only arrived in the city a week ago, but I got my vest and my special knife." There was a brief pause, followed by silence, Joey must have surmised that Leon moved somewhere more silent so he can actually hear and talk to his brother. "So, how far are you, little bro?" Leon asked as he found himself a nice, quiet area to talk. Joey cleared his throat. "Hang on a sec, I'm about...I'd say…" He looked around until he spotted a sign. "97 miles out, hopefully it shouldn't take too much longer for me to get into the city limits, I can see it slightly from here, it looks nice enough. I should be there soon enough bro, but I gotta go if I plan on getting there anytime soon." Leon gave a quiet laugh. "You got it, little dude." There was a small beep as he hung up, and Joey placed his feet firmly on the pedals of his bike, and resumed his journey, this was the final stretch, soon, he would be reunited with his brother. 

Meanwhile, seven miles below the crust of Raccoon City, William Birkin was pacing back and forth while holding a phone in his hand sounding frantic as ever. "Are you kidding me? We need to get this shit on the fast track, I already made an offer, but the fact is, if we don't hurry the hell up, Umbrella is going to be on both of our asses, and that will be very ugly, trust me. With all due respect, Commander Reynolds, we need to hurry here, it's only a matter of time before Spencer catches on." There was brief silence on the other head. "Very well, the price we will pay for that virus? Fifty million, we'll send in the best of the military to keep Umbrella occupied until we can get you out of there, in the meantime, perhaps this goes without saying, but be careful, Mr. Birkin." Birkin set the phone down, and let out a sigh, pinching his forehead. "Christ, this is not gonna end well…" The coming week would prove to be the beginning of Raccoon City's end.

Joey had finally made it, the full moon hanging high in the sky, bathing the surrounding landscape in a ghostly white. He looked to his right and found a rather large white sign. "Raccoon City, home of Umbrella, huh? Well, you learn something new every day…" Joey was rather humored by the sign. Umbrella really wanted their name everywhere. Joey dug out his phone and dialed Leon again. "Hey, Leon? You there?" Leon affirmed this. "Where else would I be? You here?" Joey nodded, and then came to realize Leon couldn't see through the phone. "Oh, yeah. Sooooo, mind pointing me towards the RPD precinct building, that would help out a lot. I'm on Fox Street."

Leon made a thoughtful grunt. "You're a lot a closer than you think, just head down the street till it ends, and then hang a left, and you are literally right there, I'll meet you outside the building, and I'll show you around." Leon sighed. "Something wrong bro?" Joey arched an eyebrow, "I'll explain later." Leon said, and hung up, stepping out into the cool night air, the reassuring weight of his vest at his back, the wind blowing through the bangs framing his face. It didn't take long for Joey to notice his older brother, and he smiled, biking towards him rather quick, he leaned his bike against the wall, and removed his leather fingerless gloves, and gave his bro a big hug, it kind of felt like he was hugging a slab of leather and kevlar, perhaps due to the armored vest. "Mind taking that off bro?" Joey chuckled. Leon shrugged, removing it, revealing a blue shirt emblazoned with the letters S.T.A.R.S. "Pretty nice, you're looking pretty official." Joey said, regarding him. "So, the question remains, do you have anyone special?" Joey smirked. Leon tapped his chin, "There is someone, but I'm not sure she feels the same way."

"Well, how would know if you never asked?" Joey said, "It's about communication, that's it really, just at least talk to her, that's really all it takes, and what's the worst that can happen?" Leon shrugged. "It's rarely that simple." Leon steered his brother inside. "I suppose I could show you the workplace, and then you and I have a few things we need to grab." "Such as?" "That's gonna be a surprise kid." Leon had a devious glint in his eye as he regarded his younger sibling. As they stepped inside, Joey let out a low whistle. "Whoa, this place is pretty huge for a police station…" Joey cast his gaze around. "Well, it wasn't always a police station, it was an art museum prior to that, the statue right there is a holdover from when it still was, right now it serves it's current purpose admirably enough. Follow me, and we'll head up to the second floor, and you can meet my friends, don't be nervous, everyone here is really nice, the station has always been known for it's laid back atmosphere." Leon assured him.

As they passed through hallway after hallway, they finally hit a staircase. "Up we go." Leon nodded upward, the wood creaking under his feet, which was typical enough. "There's not much to this room, just three statues. Just past this is the place where my team and I do our jobs whenever we aren't on dispatch, which has been happening quite a lot lately, strange things indeed…" As they approached the door to the S.T.A.R.S. Leon tentatively pushed it open. "Hey everyone, this is my little brother I was telling you about. He's gonna be staying in Raccoon City for a while, I think we should make him feel welcome, don't you?" A few fellow cops actually acknowledged Leon as their hands went up and waved to Joey. Joey waved back as he arched an eyebrow. "I thought there would be a lot more of you." Upon uttering those words, it was as if someone has very suddenly flipped a switch, the entire room fell silent, as everyone looked down, for reasons unbeknownst to Joey. Leon put his hands up. "Easy guys, he's new to all of this, he didn't know." He walked over to Jill, gripping her hand in his. "Sorry if I'm a bit too forward, Jill. It was kind of the spur of the moment, really." Jill shook her head. "Don't worry about it, newbie, the gesture is appreciated. So what's your plan for the evening?" "Take my brother out on the town, whoop it up, go partying, all of that jazz. Why not join us?" Leon prompted earnestly. Jill sighed. "It's not like I have anything else I need to do tonight, it would probably do me some good as well." She grinned. "Let's go, shall we? She nodded to her fellow compatriots, "I'll catch the rest of you later, yeah?"

Leon and Jill exited the room with Joey in tow, Jill turned towards him. "So what do you do, Joey? Your occupation?" "None yet, I attend college, I'm on break right now, so I figured I'd come and celebrate with my older brother the new S.T.A.R.S. member for making it, I was there with him when he made it into the police academy, he was so excited, hard to believe that was two years ago. He hasn't changed much." "What the hell is that supposed to mean, bro?" Leon almost yelled. "Way to put me on blast…" He grumbled, crossing his arms with a small huff. "What about your parents? Not once has Leon told me anything about them." Joey shifted uncomfortably. "There's a bit of a reason for that, they kind of had a falling out, they didn't want Leon to become a cop, said it was too dangerous, but Leon has always been the determined type, and he's old enough to make his own choices, as am I with mine, I'll stand by my bro, no matter what. If he was good enough to make it into S.T.A.R.S. it's not like he's going to lose his life at the hands of some petty thug."

Joey continued. "Even in spite of this, Leon was always our parents favorite, he was calm, cool, and collected all the time, which made it pretty easy for mom and dad, there is no doubt about that." Leon scoffed at that. "They never had a favorite, they love us both the same, with our flaws and all, in any case, lets go get some booze, I don't know about the two of you, but what I need is a stiff drink." Leon did not typically indulge in alcoholic beverages, so the occasional pint/shot was all the more satisfying when he did decide to party. Now that he was by the side of his younger brother and the girl he likes, this shouldn't be a problem for him. The trio made their way into the cool night air, and stopped for a moment to ponder their next action. "Booze." Leon pointed at his brother, and Jill.

They decided to make their way down to Jack's Bar, and so, that is where they headed, perhaps funnily enough, there was next to no one there, just them, and Jack. "Weird…"Leon arched an eyebrow. "Well, hey hey, if it isn't the prestigious S.T.A.R.S. team!" Jack smiled. "Who's the new kid?" "He's my younger brother." Leon explained. Joey waved at Jack and greeted him. "I'm Joey, Nice to meet you sir." Jack simply replied with a smile on his face " Nice to meet you too Joey." Jack looks to all three "So how can I help you three?" Leon slid up on one of the stools. "Hard stuff, Jack, hard stuff." Leon smiled. "I have to break my little brother in, he just turned twenty one, so we're gonna show him the works." Jack sighed. "I'm not normally this lenient, but you RPD members are the law in this town that goes without saying, so I am going to trust you on this one, what you do outside of this bar, has nothing to do with me. Capiche?" Leon smirked. "You got it." He turned around, facing Jill and Joey. "What are you two standing around there all awkwardly?" Leon laughed. "Take a seat, I got this, we got this." Jill arched an eyebrow along with Joey who walked up to Leon and whispered, "Leon, I just turned 20 not 21." Leon replied with a devious looking smirk "That's what you and I only know." Joey also smirked and shook his head away. "Touche Leon. Touche indeed." "Glad I could talk some sense into you man, you gotta live and let live sometimes." Jack produced a bottle of Jack Daniels, and some shot glasses. "Joey, get over here. You gotta knock it back all at once." He patted his younger brother on the shoulder. Joey hesitated for a second, and then knocked it back, and teetered a bit.

"Easy there." Leon said, steadying him. Joey coughed. "My throat feels like it's on fire…" Jill stood him back into a straight stance. "No worries, it's like that for everyone. Just don't overdo it, and keep something like water nearby, it's hard to know your limit to start with, and it's too easy to end up losing the contents of your stomach, believe me."

Hours passed, and eventually the three staggered out of Jack's Bar at about one in the morning. "Well...I think it's safe to say that none of us are driving." Leon stumbled over to a lightpost, and slowly slid down it, looking up at the starlight sky. "This is going to come back to us in the morning, no doubt about that." Leon groaned. Jill sidled over to them, she was more sober then the Kennedy siblings. "You can stand right?" She said, concerned. "Just enough so we can get wherever we are gonna crash." Jill laughed slightly. "Under normal circumstances, I'd say go to hell, but in this case, we can crash at my place." Leon propped Joey up on his shoulder. "That idea sounds golden." After awkwardly staggering in silence, the two eventually reached Jill's apartment building. Leon set his boots by the door when they got in and collapsed on Jill's living room floor, eyes fluttering.

Jill stood over him, while Joey flopped onto her couch. "You gonna just flop on the floor like that? I do have a guest room, you know." She poked his ribs, which caused Leon to jump, due to the ticklish sensation that resulted. "Hey bro, what about you?" Leon looked at his incredibly inebriated younger brother. "Does this couch fold out, it sure looks like it, Jill?" She nodded in the affirmative. "Alrighty, sweet, let's see if I can get through the fog of drunkenness to figure this shit out without hurting myself…" He started fumbling with the framework. "Leon, go to the guest room, I'll catch up with you in a moment. Your younger brother is going to hurt himself at this rate." Leon staggered to his feet, while Jill unfolded the couch. "You keep a sheet on?" Joey arched an eyebrow. "Well, I clean it frequently. But yes, it's too much of a pain in the ass to keep putting on, so naturally, I keep it on for situations like this."

"Bro's getting laid…" Joey muttered. "What was that?" Jill said, curiously. "Nothing, nothing." He waved his hands. Joey kicked off his sneakers and shook out of his patterned light coat, placing his fingerless gloves by his shoes, and also removed his Desert Eagle and the clip from it. "Jesus Christ, kid. You were carrying that with you?" "You never know." He explained. "I have a firearm licence, legitimacy for the win." "That's all said and good, but how in the hell did you manage to get a Desert Eagle magnum?" Joey chuckled. "Leon gave it to me, it was his weapon in the police academy before he got that badass Beretta M92FS that all you S.T.A.R.S. members have. He takes good care of his weapons. I always used to think about how weird it was when Leon said that it was nothing but an extension of himself, but now I think I get it." Jill laughed while Leon sat on the guest bed scratching his head in awkwardness, showing a small sign of embarrassment. Jill eased up on the laughing and was about to ask Joey what he thought at first when Leon said what he did. Jill turned around and saw Joey was knocked out on the couch turned bed stretched out and snoring away. Jill went in to the guest room and slowly closed the door. "I think he'll be alright." Jill quietly said to Leon. Leon replied with a small smile on his face "Yeah he should. I just he hope he can wake up in the morning or else I have to explain to my parents that I got my little brother drop dead drunk." Jill and Leon together laughed so hard they both collapsed on the bed right next to each other and slowly lightened up before they woke up Joey.

"You know...Oh Jesus, I can't believe I am saying this...I know that workplace relationships aren't approved of, but honestly Jill, you are a beautiful woman, and honestly, I dunno about you, but I like you, a lot. But hey, if you don't reciprocate, I won't question it. I am just glad I am finally able to work up the courage to tell you." Jill chuckled as he blushed. "Still just a kid. Look, if you want a relationship, fine, you're handsome, and kind, but we have to keep it on the down-low at work, you got it?" She said, putting a finger to his face. "Secrecy is my middle name. Well technically it's Scott, but you get the basic point." Leon smirked. Jill looked into his eyes. "Your eyes are a rather beautiful shade of blue." Leon gulped. "You really think so, huh?" He pulled her in close. "Well, yup, this is happening." And they locked lips.

Meanwhile, underneath the streets of Raccoon City, things were afoot. William was stressed. He had just gotten a call from Spencer, and it didn't bode well. "William, you have been working on this G-Virus for far too long, and with far too little results, and frankly, ever since Wesker's betrayal at the Arklay Research Facility, I have been very thin on patience. So get some results, or lets just say...your employment will be terminated." With that Birkin was welcomed with nothing but silence. "Shit...what am I going to do?" The phone he was using rang again. "Yes?" "Twenty Million Dollars, for a full case of G-Virus samples. Is that fine?" This must have been another high ranking military official. "That's fine." "Alright, we'll send in a military team to keep you safe, just try to stay on Umbrella's good side for now." "Yes, that's the idea." Birkin hung up, and took a deep shuddering breath. "Oh god, I just hope we can all make it through this."

William had no idea how wrong he would be, this was the beginning of the end…  
A few days passed, and Raccoon City was about to become a warzone. The end began deep underneath the streets of Raccoon. HUNK was being briefed on his mission. "Doctor William Birkin has been doing secret deals with the United States Military to broker a deal for the G-Virus, you will be meeting up with the newly formed Delta Team, the Wolfpack, to acquire the samples, if Birkin resists, deadly force is permitted. Now, go." "Roger that, command, Alpha Team out." He nodded to the troop by his side. "Let's get this over with. We can expect armed troops from the US Military, and possibly the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service as well, so keep on your toes." A low voice came from seemingly nowhere, revealing a hooded man. "Aren't they on the same side, can't we just pick up the phone and call?" "They are just mercenaries, they can be bought. We can't expect them to have loyalty for the company." The group moved on silently. "I thought there were five of you?" HUNK pointed out.

VECTOR nodded. "They are up ahead. The plan is we are going to rendezvous with them." Needless to say, Birkin wasn't just going to hand over the G-Virus." HUNK and the troop stepped into the lab. "Doctor, we are here for the G-Virus sample." HUNK had his gun leveled at Birkin, much like Birkin had a nine millimeter leveled at them. "Sorry, I won't just hand over my life's work." He made the mistake of moving too suddenly, and the officer under HUNK opened fire, perhaps out of instinct.

HUNK immediately shoved away his fellow officer's gun and warned him "Stop! You might hit the sample!." Both officers walked toward Birkin's case and made sure it contained the G sample, also ignoring Birkin himself leaning against the table breathing heavily and bleeding badly. "That's it alright. Let's get going." HUNK secured the sample and left leaving Birkin for dead. Not long after the soldiers were far gone, Annette Birkin, William's wife entered the office and noticed her husband in critical condition. "William!" She ran toward him and leaned beside him frantic. "Hold on darling! I'll take care of those wounds for you. Stay here." She left her husband to seek out a first aid kit for him.

As soon as Annette left, William noticed a sample of the G-Virus that the Umbrella soldiers had forgotten right next to him on the floor. He picked it up and knew what to do. He slowly climbed up the table and picked up a syringe which he was able to inject himself with the virus. William with all of his strength, stabbed himself with the needle and injected himself. He immediately felt the effects of the virus running through his body and noticed his vision change as his eyes turned dark bloody red. The transformation had begun.

Moments later, HUNK and his fellow soldier were communicating with the rest of the squad. "This is Alpha, we've retrieved the sample. Rendezvous with us at the extraction point." "Affirmative." Delta responded. Before Alpha could take a step forward, a loud ferocious roar rumbled the long halls of the sewers and a giant dark figure appeared at the end of the hallway Alpha just came from. The two soldiers noticed the figure and were startled by the figure's intimidating presence. "What the hell is that?" HUNK asked his fellow officer. "I don't know and I don't wanna know." he said. "Shoot it!" he yelled at HUNK with him gladly nodding in agreement. "Eat this you freak!" HUNK immediately fired a whole clip into the creature with no effect whatsoever. The creature continued to make its way toward the soldiers and drew out its large sharp claws and quickly attacked HUNK and his fellow officer.

Delta immediately ran toward Alpha's location after hearing the monster and Alpha's blood curdling screams. They knew they made it when they too came face to face with the creature. They witnessed the creature pick up a sample of the G-Virus from the fallen case and eat the entire capsule. The monster drew its attention to the remaining soldiers and once again let out it's intimidating roar right before it dashed towards Delta and killing them both by impaling them with its claws. The monster now ran free in the sewers, making it's way out to commence chaos upon Raccoon City.

Leon and Jill were sleeping soundly, at least until they heard a really loud noise…"What the hell…? Holy shit I have a headache." Jill was still soundly asleep holding Leon close. Joey was apparently on the same wavelength. "Um guys?" He said, rubbing his temples. "Call me crazy, but I think that was a fucking explosion." Leon gently removed himself out from under Jill gently. "OK, let's go see what the hell is going on...You might want to grab your gun, chances are, if there is an explosion, I think I may know what is going on. Strange things have been going around for months now, and I think this might just be the culmination." Leon put up a hand for his brother to hold up. "Just stay here for a few, I have to go see what's going on." He stepped outside, and the sky was tinged orange with flames. People were rioting, and sure enough, Leon spotted something unusual. There were people running, as well as people shambling, making odd noises as they did so, listlessly reaching for the people who wasted no time in running.

A few people had been caught by these "people", and what Leon saw next made his blood run cold, people being torn to shreds, just like the victims of zombies of old horror movies that he had seen when he was a kid, he vomited at the sight of these zombies hunched over their victims like animals, tearing and ripping through sinew and flesh, and organs alike...He wiped his mouth once he was done, and stepped back inside, Joey noticing the look of pure shock on his face. "What's going on out there? You look as though you saw a ghost." Leon sat down on the couch, running his hands through his hair. "It's beginning, we have to get out of here, we can't hope to do that right now as it is." Leon grabbed the remote on Jill's coffee table, flicking to the news channel. "Widespread panic in Raccoon City ensued in the early morning as a strange individual attacked a man in the street in the early hours of the morning that brings to light the strange cannibal murders that occurred roughly two months ago. It seems that it has only gotten worse as the time passed, and the RPD Special Forces have been mobilized, they advise that all citizens, law enforcement and the citizenry alike seek refuge at the police station." The news cut out to a commercial.

"What do we do?" Joey prompted. "The only choice, we have to wait, it's too dangerous to head out there now." "But-" "No. No buts, listen to me. Whatever this is, it's beyond just three people, and I don't think even the RPD will be able to handle this. Especially if what I think it is." As Leon was finished with his brother and made a break for the door, he was stopped once again by Joey. "I never hid anything from you in my entire life and you will not start with me now. What's going on Leon?!" Leon knew it was right to not keep his brother in the dark and to be honest with him. He let out a big sigh and sat down beside his brother and explained what was happening. "About two months ago, there happened to be reports of "cannibal murders" coming from the forests surrounding Raccoon City, the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team was sent in to investigate the occurrences, the city descended into a panic, the roads into the mountains were blocked off by the RPD, and the Bravo Team disappeared. Inevitably the Alpha Team was sent in to investigate as to what happened to their compatriots, and learned the ugly truth behind the murders and Bravo Teams disappearance."

Leon cleared his throat before continuing. "In the middle of the woods where the Bravo Team's helicopter had crashed, Alpha Team naturally went to investigate, and thats where things took a turn for the worse. They were split apart and lost a team member due to the attack of zombified dogs codenamed Cerberus, and made their way into the mansion, which was no safer, because it was actually a front for illegal biological weapons research done by the international pharmaceutical enterprise Umbrella. This research culminated in the frightening T-Virus, capable of turning humans into the living dead that devour the livings flesh just like an old zombie movie, as well as a multitude of other horrific monsters, which for all we know are dwelling within the city right now. The worst part about the Mansion Incident though is that the leader of S.T.A.R.S. deliberately led them to the mansion to gain combat data against the Bio-Organic Weapons that had run rampant within the facility, whilst also wiping out the S.T.A.R.S. Team before they became a thorn in Umbrella's side, that man was named Albert Wesker, and it'd be wise on your behalf not to mention that name around Chris or Jill. And I guess at this point even the mansion self destructing wasn't enough to stop the T-Virus, cuz here we are now."

When Leon finished explaining the whole story to his little brother, Joey leaned back on the couch looking out the window in an almost zoned out fashion. He was in total shock and disbelief like any other person would be. Joey just didn't know what to say. All he could say was "Holy shit…." Leon shared the mutual feeling. He knew within Joey would react this way and once again made eye contact with his disturbed sibling. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but remember these words Joey. You are my brother. I love you and I'm not gonna let anything bad happen ever." Those words alone brought a smile back to Joey's face. "You promise big bro?" Joey asked and Leon simply replied with a smile on his face "I promise little bro. Now then, let's just wait it out, and then we can escape. Because let's be honest, tonight's going to be the longest night of our lives."

All throughout the night the sounds of gunfire were echoing through the city, eventually this roused even Jill from her slumber while Joey and Leon sat on the balcony watching the disaster unfold. While they wouldn't be able to undo the disaster, there was no doubt that they would have to find all the information they could to prove Umbrella guilty of their crimes. Leon flicked on the TV. Somehow how the news was still going. "How? Those people don't realize how lucky they are for the time being, but let's hear what they have to say." The newsperson sighed. "This is looking to be the end for Raccoon City, the law has collapsed, and those few who are still alive have taken the law into their own hands, news has reached other towns, and the reaction by the law enforcement is naturally, one of complete law enforcement. And so I say to all watchers who are still alive to hear this, run, survive, your only hope is to escape from this city of the damned." Leon nodded. "We have to go, it's now or never." Leon stood up, "Thankfully, I have all the things we need." Jill followed. "How are you sure that we are going to survive this?" "If we keep our heads we can." Leon muttered, opening a massive trunk he had stored here the last time he had bunked at Jill's apartment. "You sneaky little bastard." Jill said in amazement. "Holy shit." Joey said, slack jawed. Weapons, of every kind imaginable, Shotgun's, SMG's, Magnum's, Pistols...You name it, Leon had it.

Leon turned to Jill. "You should go get your tactical gear." She nodded. Leon meanwhile fished out the outfit of the RPD Select Force. "Joey, put those on." Leon said. "You can slip them over your normal clothing." He insisted when Joey looked hesitant. In roughly an hour, the trio was ready to face the music, all of them were understandably nervous. "Our first order of business I think should be the Raccoon Police Department, we need to be able to regroup there." Leon said, loading a fresh clip into his Samurai Edge. Leon tentatively pushed open the front door, the only sound was the occasional gust of wind, it was very silent. Yet he was sure that in other parts of the city that this was not the case.

Leon gave everything a once over. "Well, we're as ready we are ever going to be. So lets get this show on the road…" And so the longest night of their lives began. "Man it's really quiet out here…" Joey said, casting his gaze back and forth. "I wouldn't count on it to stay that way." Jill quipped. "This is going to be the Mansion Incident, like ten times worse though." Jill said, adjusting her beret. Leon smiled. "You look good in that beret…" "Oh god." Joey muttered. Leon chuckled. "Alrighty, let's get this show on the road." Leon looked up at the sky when the familiar sound of helicopters came overhead. "Rescue helicopters?" Leon squinted. Jill shook her head. "No, not rescue helicopters." Jill pointed out the red canisters dangling from a steel rope on the helicopters underside. Leon was just barely able to make out the numbers on the side. "MA-121...shit." Joey looked about cluelessly. "MA-121? What the hell is that?" "Hunters…" Jill groaned.

Joey gulped. "Well, if I may, I recommend we clear the hell out of here before they actually get to our location, cuz those sons of bitches are really fast." Jill deadpanned. "First one." Leon pointed out as one of the Hunters leapt up onto the roof. "Holy shit, did that thing just leap like, twenty feet?" "Doesn't matter. Just shoot it." Leon said, leveling his handgun with the monster as it leapt into the walkway. Leon wasn't able to put it down before it managed to claw him. "Shit, I got careless…" He clutched his side. "Jesus, it's pretty easy to tell you're still a rookie." Jill produced a first aid spray. "Gonna sting." She warned, spraying the wound. "I wish I could say sit still, but all that's gonna do is say, "Hey zombies free meal." Now, off with the vest and shirt." "Excuse me?" Leon arched an eyebrow. "So I can bandage the wound so it doesn't get worse, idiot. Jesus Christ, even now, and men can't help but think with their dicks." Joey sniggered at this. "Glad you find this so…" "Incoming!" Joey interrupting Leon due to the hunters making their way towards the trio. As it looked like one was about to pounce and attack, they stop and look to their left due to the sudden sound of large footsteps. The hunters shrieked and immediately left. Joey was the first to break the silence, "I wanna say good riddance, but then again…." Joey stopped and spotted a 7 foot 3 inch beast appear upon them. It looked like a man but it's face was a completely different story. Jill, Leon and Joey's jaws dropped altogether as the beast got closer. It had only one eye with the other appeared to be stitched up along with the top of it's head. It looked like there were tentacles attached to it's back and the whole body covered in an out armor padded attire. The creature stopped in front of the trio and spoke only one word that was questioning but bone chilling. "STAAAAARS!" Leon and Jill just stared for a brief second. "Something tells me, it's not here for a friendly chat."Leon pointed out.

Jill looked at him urgently. "Can you stand?" "Gonna have to, whether I can or not." Jill looked at him. "We have to split up, throw it off." Jill muttered. "I'm sorry, but are you fucking insane?" Leon questioned. "We don't have much of a choice, really. He can't come after all of us, and I can handle him. You have to trust me, both of you, get out of here, and that's not a request, get your asses up, and get going!" Leon frowned, and Joey hoisted him up, "Looks like I get to play the older bro for once, right Leon?" "Heh, you're funny, now lets get somewhere safe." "Jill, use the radio that I gave to you whenever you're safe, we'll meet up at the police station." "Got it!"

Leon and Joey were able to gain a good amount of distance from the monster that was now chasing Jill. "Hey, look! A cafe! Maybe someone is inside." Joey said. Leon replied "Yeah, let's take a breather. I need to rest." Joey quickly dragged his injured brother into the cafe with hope of quick rest and relaxation. Joey slowly let Leon down into a booth and barricaded the door behind them to make sure nothing would follow them. Joey sat down in the same booth across from Leon and let out a big sigh. Leon was the first to speak. "I'm worried about Jill. I hope she got away from that freak." Joey knew Leon was truly concerned for Jill and had to cheer him to keep his hopes up. "Leon, she became apart of the STARS team for a reason. She's tough, smart and strong. She's gonna be fine and you have nothing to worry about." The speech brought a smile to Leon's face. "Thank you Joey. Heh, you really know how to be the bigger brother here." Both brothers once again in quite a while shared a laugh that would be cut short due to an out of nowhere scream from what sounded like a woman in trouble. As both brothers looked to where the scream came from, a women dashed through the main doors of the cafe with one of those hunters after her. The women backed up against a wall with the hunter slowly creeping forward toward her. Joey immediately dashed toward the green beast to help the women. "Hey freak! Get away from her!" Joey scream as he aimed down at the Hunter and unloaded 4 rounds from his Desert Eagle, killing the hideous creature. Joey was in a bit of a shock as this was his first kill with his gun but regained his composure and saw to the lady still curled up against the wall. "It's ok Miss, it's dead. Are you ok? Are you hurt?" Joey asked. The lady replied slowly turning to face her savior. "No, I'm ok. Thank you so much." As they finally saw face to face, Joey was taken back a bit as he was looking at a beautiful redhead with sky blue eyes so easy to be hypnotized by. Her beauty struck Joey so hard he struggled for words.

"Hey, Joey, you alright? I guess I should have mentioned that, the weapon will kick you good when it fires, but you handled it well enough, don't lock your elbows though, loosen up before make a shot, saves a lot of time, and trouble." Leon was leaning against one of the counters, taking a deep breath. "So, um…" "Claire." "Well Claire, this was a really bad time to come to Raccoon, city's gone to shit. May I ask why you're here?" "I'm looking for my brother Chris Redfield. He's a member of S.T.A.R.S., but from the looks of things, you already knew that. Do you know where he is?" Leon sighed."He, left two months ago, to investigate Umbrella in France, they aren't the nice company everyone thinks they are, that monster that Joey saved you from? They made that, they're weapons dealers."

She turned to Leon. "The seemingly brightest lights always cast the deepest shadows." He panted, collapsing to his hands and knees. "Holy shit, Leon!" Joey ran over to his brother and hoisted him up. "Are you alright?" Leon nodded. "I got vaccinated for the T-Virus when I was inducted into S.T.A.R.S., but that Hunter nicked me a bit harder than I initially thought, that's for sure." He gritted his teeth. "Claire, we need to get to the police station, and regroup there." Joey pointed out. "And you know the way?" "In fact, I do." Leon could tell that his younger brother was smitten with Claire, and honestly, he couldn't blame him, he just hoped it wouldn't cloud his judgment. Claire looked back at Leon. "Is he going to be ok?" "That's my older brother we're talking about here, he'll be fine, trust me." Joey smiled with determination.

Claire smiled. "He means a lot to you, doesn't he?" Joey nodded. "He's been there for me as long as I could remember. We were born really close together, he was only one by the time I came around, according to mom, we were thick as thieves even then. Whenever anyone messed with me at school, he was there, and he would lay the smackdown even if it meant he got in trouble for it, eventually he taught me how to defend myself against any asshole who tried to start something with me, he's also really smart. And I know that nothing will break the bond we have." It didn't take long for groans to reach their ears. "We gotta go, now." Leon pointed out, opening one of the doors that lead out into the street, which lead to the gunshop.

"You two go ahead of me." Leon nodded. Joey refused. "We all go together. I'm not asking either. I'm telling you. Now come on."Joey once again took on the bigger brother role with no one left behind and this brought a smile to Leon and to Joey's surprise, Claire as well. Joey took his brother over his shoulder and got ready to leave through the door Leon opened. Joey and Leon did a fast gun check before making a break for the gun shop. Joey looked back to Claire. "Claire, once we hit the streets, stay close and avoid anything moaning and groaning and trying to eat you." Claire let out a small smile and assured Joey she'll keep up and be careful. "Ok, let's go." Joey, Leon and Claire were dashed through the street toward the gun shop, avoiding every zombie and debris they came across. The three were still shocked over the chaos going around but had to stay focused toward their destination. They made it toward the shop and dashed through the door. The horror only continued when they came across the gun shop owner being eaten alive on the shop floor. "Oh my god! He's eating him!" Claire screamed and Joey pulled up his Magnum and shouted "Get away from him, you freaks!" Joey fired a round into the zombie's heads to put them down for good. Joey wanted to see if the owner was alive but got stopped by Leon. "Don't man. He's gone." :Are you sure?" Joey asked. "Yeah. Like I said feed on you and if you get bit, you're done." Leon's cryptic but truthful words shook Joey and Claire up. Claire then spoke "Oh my god...what is happening in this city?" The group was then startled by the undead smashing on the shop windows. "We gotta go. They'll get through for sure."

Joey took Leon and Claire through the back door of the shop to enter the back alley way. The alley was so narrow, unnerving and it reeked of the smell of garbage. The trio made it through the alley, the basketball court and they reached a balcony in front of a large poster where they suddenly stopped when the sound of someone speaking through a large speaker announcing refuge at the RPD. Leon's eye lit up when he heard and pointed out to his brother and Claire "The Raccoon City Police Department is close. We're almost there." The trio made it onto the streets again which turned out to be the main street where the RPD was. "We're almost there guys, let's go!" As soon as Leon announced it, the dead showed their ugly faces once more and it overwhelming numbers. The survivors ran through half up the street but were stopped by a line of zombies. "Oh shit! Now what?" Joey said and then noticed an odd smell of gas that was so strong it was like it was right under them. Well turns out, there was a gas leak from the tank near by them and the leak caught fire and the truck blew up. The zombies were disposed of but the explosion also sent the three survivors flying on their backs. Joey was the first to get up and helped Claire to her feet. "Claire, are you ok?" "Yes, I'm ok. Where's Leon?" Joey pointed to him, who was directly behind her on the road barely clinging to consciousness and bleeding. "LEON!" Joey shouted but noticed the dead reemerging. "Claire, please help Leon up. I'll cover you." Joey opened fire on the dead while Claire attended to Leon. "Leon, are you ok?" "Yeah barely. Thanks." Claire picked up Leon and called Joey back to finally make it to the station.

Leon pulled out his radio. "Jill, where are you?" He said desperately as he waited for a response. "I'm in the station, holed up in the second floor, I managed to shake that massive son of a bitch. But be careful, I can't imagine he is too far off, so please be careful, especially you on account of getting nicked by that Hunter, we'll reunite sooner than you think." Claire turned around. "GUYS! There are more of them coming out of the woodwork!" "Ah shit." Leon muttered. Leon kicked open the metal door that lead to the back entrance of the police station. "Sneaking in through the back entrance like common criminals, classic." "I would hardly consider this sneaking in." Joey quipped. "Now which way?" "The lower path, it's the longer way around, but it's less packed." What happened next made things all the more difficult. It was Brad Vickers, or more specifically, what was left of him. "Oh shit...Brad." Leon gritted his teeth. "You know him?" Joey asked. "Look at his vest, that should give you all the answers you need." Leon grabbed his handgun, leveling at his former compatriots head, gritting his teeth, and once he was sure his aim was steady, closed his eyes, and fired. Once, twice, three times, which was enough to bring him down. Leon wasn't necessarily religious, but the stations of the cross seemed appropriate here. Claire had gotten there just quick enough to view the whole exchange. "No one is spared from this, are they?" Joey looked at his older brother. "You gonna be alright?" "I'll be fine, let's just get to relative safety."

As they reached the entrance, a strange growling reached their ears, a dogs. "Ah hell." Leon muttered, a pack of dogs revealed themselves. "DOGS TOO?!" Joey shouted. "Jesus kid, way to bring the whole neighborhood. Now let's get the hell inside." Leon pulled himself off of his brother, and kicked the double doors open while Joey and Claire covered him. "Now let's get the hell in here." Leon nodded in the direction of the open doors. The group ran in, and slammed the doors behind them, which Leon quickly locked. "That should do it…" Leon sank to his knees, taking deep breaths. "This is a police station?" Claire said, their voices echoing in the eerily silent lobby. "It was originally an art museum, that's why it's so big." Joey pointed out. "Well, at least we're safe right? C'mon, let's grab a seat and rest a little. It's well needed." Leon, Joey and Claire stopped at the bottom of the small stairs and sat down next to each other. The night had only begun.


	2. Pursuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chase is on as the Nemesis T-Type is in hot pursuit of his target that is S.T.A.R.S Member, Jill Valentine. Along the way, Jill meets a new questionable ally while the newly formed team of the Kennedys and Claire Redfield, they encounter the most feared team under advisement of Umbrella, The Wolfpack.

Jill is now wandering alone through the empty and destructive streets of Raccoon City. Her main objective was to make it to the RPD to meet up with the Kennedys and nothing was going to stop her; but there was that terrifying massive creature lurking the streets hunting the STARS members. Jill didn't want to think about that freak right now even though she should. Jill quickly went off the streets in a very narrow alleyway with two paths. One would possibly lead back into the streets while the other looked like it was the back door of the local restaurant. She took the back door into the place and locked the door behind her. She was in the back area where the kitchen was and near a floor door leading to an underground freezer. She took a step forward and stopped due to hearing footsteps coming toward her. She backed up and cocked her gun ready for use. As soon as the footsteps got too close, she dashed out and aimed her gun at the perpetrator and to Jill's surprise, it was no undead shell but a man wearing a green collared shirt, camo pants and heavy black armor and armed with an Assault Rifle.

Jill arched an eyebrow. "And you are?" The brown haired man lowered his assault rifle. "Carlos Oliveira, Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, I was sent in to this hellhole to rescue civilians, but I got split up from my team pretty quickly." "I'm sorry, but are you fucking kidding me? Umbrella are the ones who caused this mess!" Carlos raised his hands submissively. "Easy chica, I'm just a hired gun." Jill narrowed her eyes, and holstered her gun. Jill walked past him wordlessly. "Wait, where are you going?" "The Raccoon City Police Station, the last safe haven within this city, no doubt. My friends are there, as well. And if you are smart, you'll head there as well.

Meanwhile, the Wolfpack was mobilizing with a new objective. "Delta Team, there are people who, if are allowed to continue to survive, no doubt will be able to put Umbrella in a compromised state. Two S.T.A.R.S. members, Leon S. Kennedy and Jill Valentine, should you succeed in their eradication, your chance of extraction is high, High Command out." The leader of the team, LUPO, nodded. "Alrighty then." The demolitions expert, Beltway, nodded, with a chuckle. "A game of cat and mouse is it?" VECTOR, the recon man said in his usual almost whisper silent tone. Suddenly a voice rang out among the wreckage of twisted cars and ruined streets. "This is a quarantine zone, identify yourself!" The Wolfpack looked at him almost with an air of amusement, until they realized from his attire that he was US Military. "Typical…" This would be the first of many clashes with Echo Six and the infamous Wolfpack. As the gunfight waged on, eventually one of Umbrella's BOW's came as a gate crasher of sorts. "We got a T-103 Tyrant approaching!" Four Eyes said, alerting everyone to the imminent danger of the BOW that didn't discriminate as to who was friend or foe, kill all, smash all, that was how it worked. Meanwhile, Jill had managed to make it outside the police station, as she was tailing after Brad, but it was all for naught. The beast that had been tailing her had conveniently appeared at the right moment, letting out a loud growl. "Jill, help!" The monster had gripped Brad by the face, and with ruthless efficiency, broke Brad's next, and dropped him in a heap. "S.T.A.R.S…" The beast uttered, and began its advance. While Jill wasn't able to kill it, she was able to fend it off, and headed into the police station, shoulders slumped, as he made it up to the second floor.

Which brings us to the current time...Leon had stood up. "I have to go check up on Jill, I'll catch up with you guys in a few." "You be careful." Claire looked at him sternly, articulating the sentiments shared by her and Joey. Leon went over to the door, but it seemed to be electronically locked. "Hey Leon! You think this card key might open the doors?" Joey tossed it to him, he headed back to the front desk, logging into the security terminal, and used the card key to open the doors. He waved to Joey and Claire, "I will be right back." He tentatively approached the double doors, coming into medium sized room with a big chest and a partition to the room where the RPD officers kept their belongings. As he approached the door that lead into the L-shaped hallway, he caught a glimpse of something crawling across the window with incredible speed. "What the hell was that?" He drew his gone, and steadily advanced into the next room, which would have been completely dark save for the moonlight pouring in from the windows leaning the side opposite of him.

"Holy shit…" The hallway was slick with blood that had been splashed over all the floor and ceiling. As he slowly advanced forward, he saw a corpse belonging to a police officer with their head missing. This nearly prompted Leon to vomit, but the corpse had a box of nine millimeter ammo in the pants pocket. What drew his attention was a puddle of drool quickly forming in front of him from up above, he almost didn't want to look up, but it was a skinless monster that had razor sharp claws, no eyes, and an exposed brain. Leon didn't waste time in firing a multitude of bullets into the beast, eventually putting it down without any further injury. Leon slowly walked past the beast and was careful not to slip on the large pool of blood on the floor. He walked through a wooden door and entered a long, narrow hallway with many windows. Leon knew he was near the Briefing room and immediately went there through the room's double doors. The room was filled with desks, tables, a vending machine and paperwork everywhere.

He looked up at the front desk and noticed someone hiding behind it. "Who's there? Identify yourself!" Leon shouted. "Leon?!" The figure behind the desk revealed herself and it was Jill! "Jill! Thank god!" The two ran toward each other and embraced tightly, needless to say, they were worried about each other. Leon let out a pained groan which caused to Jill remember the attack from the Hunter. Jill talked after laughing a little. "Leon, i'm so sorry. Are you ok?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Glad to see you made it safely here." Jill then explained "It wasn't easy I'll tell you. Leon, that monster is tearing down the city looking for us. I'm so happy to see you made it here ok and that he didn't get you. But….he...got to Brad…." Leon remembered back to outside where he put Brad out of his misery. "I know about Brad. I'm sorry Jill"

Jill cleared up her eyes and regained focus "Leon, where's Joey? Is he ok?" Leon looked up and assured her. "Yeah, he's ok. He's in the main hall with a survivor we met on the way. I would never leave Joey alone, unless I was absolutely sure that he was in safe place, and the main lobby is pretty safe. The only way in happens to be locked so…" Leon sat there for a moment, before rather abruptly locking lips with Jill, eventually breaking apart. "What was that about?" She asked. "Something I wanted to do just in case we don't make it out of this hellhole alive." Leon explained simply. "Now lets get back to the others shall we?" Leon nodded, before noticing something odd out of his periphery, what appeared to be a little girl. He turned to Jill. "You saw that right?" Jill nodded. Leon raced after her. "Hey wait! It isn't safe here!" Leon drew his gun, and dashed after the girl, elbowing zombies out of the way. As he entered the room close to the S.T.A.R.S. office, Lickers began smashing through the window. "I don't have time for this shit…"Leon growled, leaping over them expertly, as he reached the end of the hall, he witnessed the girl again. "Dammit, why does she keep running?" Leon gritted his teeth. "She's just scared, can you blame her?" Jill pointed out.

Meanwhile, Joey and Claire were idling away the time with conversation. "So Claire. You ever been to Raccoon before?" "Nope. First time here and was there ever a welcome party." Claire and Joey cracked a laugh. "What about you Joey? Are you new here too?" "I am actually. I showed up the night before to celebrate Leon getting into STARS." Claire popped a devious smirk on her face. "I'm sure the celebration went well for you two?" "You can say that. It was definitely quite the night." "Oh, I'm sure." The two crack another laugh. "So uhh, what were you before you came into this madness? College student? Work or being a badass?" Claire uncontrollably laughed. "No, I'm a college student but on the side I am quite the motorcyclist." "Oh so you're a college student and a badass! Knew it!" Another laugh between the two. "I don't mean to bring down the mood here but, you said that you came here for your brother right?" Joey noticed Claire's smile turn down a bit and already he felt bad. "Yeah, I really haven't heard from him in a while. I wanna think he's just buried in work and he's not in any trouble." Joey felt from those words alone Claire has a great relationship with her brother. He felt bad for her that she just wanted to see her brother but ended up into this nightmare and just to hear that he is not in the city.

Suddenly the double doors flew open followed by what appeared to be a little girl dashing across the lobby. Joey squinted. "What's a little girl doing here?" Claire stood up. "It's obviously not safe here, we should go after her." Claire said, loading a fresh clip into her Browning High Power. Claire darted forward, vaulting over the receptionist desk. "Well shit, she's got moves." Joey said, surprised. He drew his magnum, careful to keep the safety on while he was running, and shoulder the door that Claire just ran through, not expecting a zombie to be right on the other side, which he grappled with, managing to shove it off, grabbing a nearby blunt object and caving it's skull in. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack, having managed to shake of Echo Six, made their way to the station, not only to regroup, but possibly to encounter the ones they were hunting after. "Someone was just here…"VECTOR pointed out. Lupo turned towards him, "What? Care to elaborate?" VECTOR leads the pack toward the main desk and points out to them. "Notice the typewriter and books here. Why are the books so close to the edge where they can easily fall? The typewriter now, why is it not facing front and straight instead of how it's turned to the corner." Lupo was visibly annoyed and interrupted VECTOR. "Would you just get on with it already?" Vector sighed and spat it out. "These were moved very recently. Someone was here in this area. One, maybe two people. Possibly our targets." "Alright, we'll split up and cover both sides of the station. VECTOR, you are with me. We'll take the door near the main entrance. Beltway and Foureyes, you two take the double doors. We don't stop until we find them and kill them. Now go!" The pack split up and were on the search. VECTOR and Lupo however, were gonna get a bit more than the STARS members they seek.

Claire and Joey had managed to catch up to Sherry. "Hey, hey, calm down! Do we look like monsters to you?" Claire said in an attempt to sooth the young girl. "Mind telling us your name?" She smiled. The girl looked up at her with a blank expression. "Sherry Birkin." She said. Jill and Leon meanwhile were making their way back to the lobby when they ran into two rather menacing individuals clad in black, one of them, a woman, and judging by bulk of the other, a man, armed to the teeth. "Those are the targets." The man pointed out. "I see." The woman leveled her SMG at them. "Oh shit." Leon said, moving quickly to dodge the initial gunfire, drawing his S.T.A.R.S. knife in the process, zeroing in on the bigger of the two, placing his knife level with the man's throat. "Umbrella, huh?" Leon smirked. "If I had to guess, Umbrella sent you in to tie up the loose ends so the truth about what happened here can never get out, because that would be the end, the death nail in the coffin for Umbrella. That said, we won't be beaten so easy." Beltway cracked his neck, and kneed Leon in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"Should have…seen that coming." Leon fell to his knees. Jill ran over to him. "You have to get up. We can beat them, if we just can get some time to regroup." Leon growled, and tackled Beltway, and leveled his gun at his head. "Got you now, you bitch. At this range, I couldn't possibly miss." Beltway scoffed. "Yeah, maybe so, but you don't have the spine for it, now do you?" Leon knew the brute was playing mind games. He had the spine but did not want to stoop to his level. Leon reached for his cuffs and handcuffed Beltway to make him less of a problem and maybe get information out of him. "I'm letting you off easy here. If you try anything funny, I'll show you who has a spine here. Got it?!" Leon's sudden change of tone and gun aimed high made Beltway suddenly uncomfortable. He nodded in agreement to cooperate. Four Eyes rolled her eyes, "I can't believe this." "Yeah, shut up, alright? We'll be back, and don't expect it to go so easy next time. Though you might want to hurry, after all, VECTOR and Lupo should be coming across some other rats soon enough." Leon dropped him, and stood up, he winced, he must have re-opened his wound.  
Drops of blood started forming puddles at his feet. Jill pulled him close, "We gotta redress that wound, come with me." She helped Leon to his feet, and they went to the photo developing room, which was bathed in a red, dim light. She sat him on the table, clearing some miscellaneous objects out of the way. "You know the drill." She said. He slipped out of his vest, and shirt, revealing toned muscles, the bandage was almost completely red. "Sheesh, we need to find a way to keep you out of harms way." Leon smirked. "I don't think that's possible." He chuckled. "Ow…" Leon sighed. "You ok, Leon?" He shook his head. "Not really, no. The more I see, the less I have a feeling we're gonna get out alive." "You can't go thinking like that, even when everything falls apart, that one ray of light, can make all the difference. So long as we keep our heads, we can do this. And maybe, just maybe, you and I can relax somewhere nice." She said, placing a hand on his face.

Leon started blushing. "I'll hold you to that." He said, lapsing into silence as Jill tended to his wound, the big chest next to the file cabinets had three first aid sprays, Leon fished through the file cabinet, finding a box of nine millimeter bullets. "Nice! Hey Jill, how you doing on ammo?" He asked, turning around. "Jill?" She had seemingly disappeared. Leon went to the back room. Jill was leaning on a desk. Leon approached tentatively. "Jill...are you, crying?" He muttered softly, placing his arms on around her. "I was thinking about it, and maybe you're right, this is a situation that keeps getting worse and worse." Leon held her close. "I won't let you die, I will lay everything on the line if it means even the slightest shot at keeping you alive, and that counts for Joey and Claire as well, I gotta keep you all safe."

"Just so long as you don't do anything foolish. It's ok, to lean on others from time to time." Jill explained. Joey, Sherry, and Claire meanwhile had made the decision to head back to lobby, where it was relatively safe, and waited for Jill and Leon to show up again. Claire was beginning to worry for Leon. "He's fine, trust me, if I know him, and I'd rather think I do, he and Jill are just briefly fooling, if you know what I mean." Just then, the air was punctuated by a really loud howl that was not even remotely human. "What the hell was that?" Joey said. "It's that monster again! It's big, far bigger than any of those zombies out there, and it's coming after me." Sherry said frantically, darting off again. "Ah shit, we have to catch up to her!" Claire shouted in made it into lobby and was going to head for the double doors again. As Sherry was about to reach for the handle, the door had already been opened by Leon and Jill. Sherry fell back on to the floor from being startled. Jill recognized the little girl and was able to stop her. "Hey there now. It's ok. Nothing is gonna hurt you." Jill was able to comfort Sherry but she was still nervous about the monster that was after her. "I'm sorry I ran from you earlier. But there's something here that's after me." Jill had a questioning look on her face. "What do you mean something is after you?" Before Sherry could answer, Joey and Claire made it into the lobby and caught up. "There you two are!" Joey shouted. "Oh, you got her. Wow she's a track star." All kidding aside, Joey noticed Leon's new bandages and more blood on his shirt and armor. "New bandages? Something happened, you guys ok?" Leon smirked with being surprised Joey knew right off the bat something happened to him. "We're ok, for now. But i'll explain later." Jill stood up with Sherry by her side. Joey acted quick. "Oh..um..Jill, this is Claire Redfield. Claire, this is Jill Valentine. Also a STARS member." Claire and Jill shook hands. "Pleasure to meet you Claire. I'm sorry we couldn't meet under more normal circumstances" Claire let out that cute small laugh again. "It's quite alright, nice to meet you Jill." Leon had a evil smile on his face as he tilted toward Jill and whispered "Just so you know, Joey is quite smitten with Claire." Jill let out a small laugh while both Joey and Claire blushed hard. Joey was more nervous and mad at Leon while Claire looked away smiling. "Shut up Leon." Joey whispered after lightly punching Leon's arm. The mood was nice as everyone had a laugh. But now it got more serious as everyone now focused on Sherry. "Now Sherry, what are doing here all by yourself?" Claire asked.

"I was told here to hide by my mom, my parents lab is in the basement. There is something out here to get me, but I have no idea what is is, and I am sure I don't want to know, but my mom told me to lay low, and I can't say this counts towards that." Suddenly, a loud shattering sound came, followed by the appearance of a brown haired man, toting an assault rifle, "Shit...that was close." Jill stopped for a second. "You!" He put a finger up. "Ah! Hired gun, remember? Not my fault." Leon looked towards Jill. "I see you're confused." He noted walking towards Leon, offering his hand to shake. "Carlos Oliveira, former member of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service." Leon took it. "What do you mean former?" Leon crossed his arms. "Well, considering that our employer viewed as nothing more than expendable assets, and that well, I've pretty much been expended, I'm kinda in a tight spot here. That and we have to clear out of here before dawn. The US government is going to wipe Raccoon City off the map with some well placed tactical nuclear missiles."

"They can't do that! That shit will be all over the news!" Joey shouted. "No, it won't, at least not Umbrella's involvement in the destruction, the government is too far in with Umbrella, anything that hurts Umbrella will no doubt shatter the government as well. The United States played the devils game, and they paid for it." Carlos concluded. "Nice hairstyle by the way." He nodded to Joey. Joey gave him a thumbs up, "Let's talk while we walk. So what's this going on right now?" Joey asked Carlos. "Currently, a good deal of the city is a battleground between Umbrella forces and the US Military, and thats not even counting the sheer multitude of Umbrella's weapons that have ran rampant through the city, I narrowly avoided a confrontation with this big, brown skinned one, and this motherfucker looked like he meant business. Then the man I thought was my comrade shot some weird capsule into it, and the damn thing went berserk, and then it skewered an entire contingent of USS troops. That thing is not going to go down easily, that's for sure."

"S.T.A.R.S…" A growl issued, from outside, as Nemesis smashed down the double doors. "Holy shit, when did he get a rocket launcher?!" Jill shouted. "Beats me, but I suggest we don't stick around long." Jill shook her head in the negative. "That's not enough, we have to put it down, sure enough it will be a risky endeavor, but it's that son of a bitch, or us. So we have to chase it off for now."Everyone was surprised with Jill's bravery especially against a huge B.O.W like Nemesis. Joey was the first to speak out of the group. "She's right. We gotta take it down. It's now or never. I have a plan. I'll take out the rocket launcher he has. As soon as it's gone, we all fill him with lead. Got it?" Everyone agreed to the plan and were also shocked at Joey's bravery and agreement to Jill's idea. Leon wasn't fully sure if this was a good idea as he didn't want anything to happen to Joey but since he was by his side, he was up for it. Leon patted his younger brother on the back and said. "I'm with you like always brother." Joey smiled then turned serious real quick. Joey popped up and unloaded many rounds from his Desert Eagle into the monster's rocket launcher until it was gone. At his last round fired, the launcher blew up in Nemesis face, actually injuring the monster. Joey shouted as he went to reload "ATTACK!"

Leon leveled his gun at the monstrosity. "Sherry, cover your ears!" Leon gritted his teeth, stared down the sights, and fired at this nameless beast, until his clip was empty, eventually the beast fell, incumbent, for now, at least. "I can't believe that worked." Leon said, shoulders slumped. "That was ballsy Joey, but way to take the initiative." Leon placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded, turning to Sherry. "You said your parents lab was in the basement of the police station? Well, maybe we should chat it up with the police chief, after all, he's still alive from those files laying around that I managed to find. Furthermore, he has to answer for his crimes."

"What do you mean Leon? What crimes?" Joey questioned Leon faced the group and thought it's a good time to explain the true Chief Brian Irons. "After Claire's brother Chris left 2 months ago, I did a little snooping around. I really felt something was off about the chief since I came here. So when he was away, I snuck into his office to see if there was anything of interest." Joey spoke up "So did you find anything to prove your theory?" Leon then had a disturbed look on his face. "Yeah, and I really regret it." Leon pulled something out of his pocket which was a book. "This is the Chief's diary." Joey laughed "Damn bro, I didn't think you were into that stuff." "Oh shut up!" Laughter ensued within the group for a second. Leon went from smiling to disturbed again. "In all seriousness, you guys should hear all this. Sherry, I don't think you should hear this." Jill took Sherry away so she would not have to hear what the group had to and they wished they didn't.

Leon reads "September 23rd: It's all over. Those imbeciles from Umbrella have finally done it… Despite all their promises, they've ruined my town. Soon the city will be infested with zombies. I'm beginning to think I may be even be infected myself. I'll kill everyone in town if this turns out to be true." Leon could tell they already the group was already not comfortable with this. Claire was the first to speak "This guy has some serious issues." Everyone agreed. Joey spoke next "I have never met this guy and I already don't like him. Is there more dude?" Leon nodded and continued reading. "September 24th: I was successful in spreading confusion among the police as planned. I've made sure that no one from the outside will come to help. With the delays in police actions, no one will have the chance to escape my city alive. I've seen to it personally that all escape routes from inside the precinct have been cut off as well. There are several survivors still attempting to escape through the lower levels, but i'll make sure no one gets out."

More uncomfort was among the group. Carlos spoke up before Joey did. "What is wrong with this guy?" "My dislike just turned to hate. Is there more bro?" Leon froze for a couple seconds and nodded. Everyone knew the next part would not be good at all. Leon continued "September 26th: I've had a change of heart about the remaining survivors inside the precinct. I've decided to hunt them down myself. I shot Ed in the back through the heart less than an hour ago. I watched him write in pain upon the floor in a pool of his own blood. The expression on his face was absolutely exquisite…" "SHUT UP! NO MORE!" Joey screamed. He took the book from his brother's hands, threw it on the floor and fired magnum rounds in to it. Joey was livid with what he had heard and agreed that they heard enough. "This son of a bitch….deserves to die."

Leon had his fists clenched. The sound of bullets being fired had no doubt drawn Jill and Sherry's attention. He went over to Sherry, got down to one knee, and placed his hands on her shoulder. "Sherry, things are about to get more dangerous, I need you to listen to us, if we tell you to hide, you do it, and so on. You understand? We need to stay together." She nodded in the affirmative, turning to Jill. "You ready for a game of cat and mouse, a certain chief of the police needs to die." Jill arched an eyebrow. "What are you saying?" Leon narrowed his eyes. "He's been the one doing counterintelligence to keep Chris out of Umbrella's business, he also hunted down and killed most of the members of the precinct."

"That's a pretty wild accusation Leon, where is your proof?" Leon nodded back towards the direction of the reception desk. "The journal I had found that Joey shot to pieces with his Magnum, it's pretty much unreadable now, but he mentioned hunting down Ed and shooting him in the spine, watching him slowly die, and I have never been one for tall tales as it is." At that point a groan customary of a zombie reached their ears. Leon turned around. "Marvin! Not you too!" Leon drew his knife, well aware of the fact of his empty clip, and hacked at his former friend until he collapsed. Leon sighed. "I am getting really tired of this crap…" He fell back to the wall that shared the emergency ladder, lapsing into silence.

Jill sat next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You did what needed to be done. It's terrible, and should have never come to pass, but pass it did, and you did what was right for everyone, and made a tough choice, but saved the rest of us for it. I'm not trying to trivialize it, don't get me wrong." Joey started to approach his older brother, until he was stopped by Claire, who shook her head. "Let them be for a bit, he needs a moment to grieve, and Jill needs to comfort him." Joey nodded. "I...suppose you're right." He faced Claire. "So now what?" He asked. "Wait a minute, where did Carlos go?" Just a few minutes later, there was the sound of splintering wood, as Carlos flew back out in the lobby with a red skinned zombie quickly on his heels. "Uh, guys? Maybe you should, like, HELP?!" Claire lined up her Browning High Power, and fired a single bullet at the zombie which slowed it, for a split second, quick enough for Carlos to wheel around and finish it with his assault rifle.

Joey approached it, "What the hell is that?" He poked it's remains. Jill ran a hand through Leon's hair, and went over to the downed B.O.W. "Crimson Heads, it's a type of zombie, if you kill a zombie without lighting it on fire, or destroying it's head, it undergoes an extreme cellular reconstructive process known as V-ACT, which causes a ton of blood to seep out onto the surface of the skin which gives it's red color. It also turns even more hostile, becomes incredibly fast, and gets claws." Leon approached, "There is going to be a lot of these things." He said quietly. Sherry went over to him, and gripped his hand in a comforting gesture. Leon smiled, and stroked her hair gently. "Let's get going,yeah?" He smiled, with Sherry nodding.

Now we return to the Spec Ops team, otherwise known as Echo Six. The teams current objective is to find their way into the underground lab below Raccoon City. There is belief that the source of the monstrosities that invade the city streets are from this lab below the city, and said lab was, needless to say, Umbrella property. Spec Ops HQ contacts Echo Six to route them to their destination. "Echo Six, this is HQ. We've calculated the closest and safest route to the underground lab. The route we discovered is accessible through the Raccoon City Police Department. However, getting through the front door is not an option as we've detected multiple V-ACT B. swarming the front of the station. The only way though would be a ventilation shaft under the front entrance. The shaft should take you directly to the parking lot which you can access the the sewer system through a manhole in the dog kennel. Trend carefully. Lord knows what awaits in there. HQ out." Dee-Ay, one of Echo Six was the first to speak. "Alright guys, you heard the boss? Let's head to that station!" It took time to get there but the team made it to the station. They immediately noticed all of the Crimson Heads trying to get in the RPD through the front doors. "HQ was not kidding about the B. . We should keep a low profile" The group agreed with Dee-Ay's advice and stayed low and reached for the stairs leading down into the hall where they discovered the body of Brad Vickers. Tweed examined the body "Poor guy. No one deserves this." The team found and opened the shaft HQ told them about and made it through on the way to the parking lot.

"Well, it's relatively clearer here." Party Girl noted. "Yeah, but not for long, we shouldn't stick around too long." The teams medic, Erez Morris, AKA Harley, noted. Shona went over in an attempt to try the door that lead to a small building. "Damn, locked." They hadn't explored the adjacent building, so silent, and yet with purpose, the African man made his way into the building, and found a single simply designed key dangling from a big key ring. "A bit extraneous...but alright." He arched an eyebrow, and went back to the locked building, inserted the key into the lock, and with a small twist, the door opened. "Got it." He muttered with an air of satisfaction. "Here comes the cavalry!" Tweed shouted, noting a group of Hunters. Shona wheeled around, and fired a few assault rounds into one, with it letting out a final death screech as it flopped over. "These things sound terrible…Through that doorway, now!" Dee-Ay commanded, with his team wasting no time. They all funneled into the relatively dark room to catch their breath before commencing their mission. "Man, it's like an alphabet soup, a T-Virus to start it off, and a G-Virus to kick it into high gear…" Harley remarked.

Party Girl pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation. "That's the best analogy you could come up with?" She scoffed. Dee-Ay approached the opposite door, tentatively opening it, and peering out. "Thats...a lot of zombies." He said in dismay. "But we have little choice beyond pushing through. Make sure you get them in the brain or else they'll eventually become just like those zombies we saw trying to claw their way into the station, and they aren't like your generic zombie, as I am sure you remember." They stepped out casually, as the zombies attention was drawn to the noise, slowly turning around with their arms outstretched.

Our heroic group led by the Kennedy brothers, make their way to the Chief's office. They already had dealt with the long tongued creatures that Leon had met before. Leon then led everyone to a lone door leading down a narrow long corridor. "Down here is where the Chief's office is. Let's see if he's still in here." Leon then focused his eyes on his angry brother. He knew as soon as the signal was given, he'd rush down the hall and fill the Chief with lead. "Joey, I need you to stay focused and to try keep your cool." Joey spoke without looking at his brother. "Can't promise that Leon." Leon expected that answer and he could not blame him. "Alright then. If something goes wrong, you have my permission to let him have it. That brought an evil smirk to Joey's face. "Alright everyone, let's go." Joey was the first of the group to run down and kick the door down. Those armed searched the room for anything or anyone including Irons. "Hmmm Leon, he's not here." "Yeah, weird. He usually never leaves his office." Sherry then approaches Joey and pulls on his shirt. "Joey keeps his cool in front of the young girl. "Hey Sherry, what's up?' "Um Joey? I noticed that there is a light coming from underneath the shelf behind that desk." Sherry points to the shelf she spoke of and she is right. There is a light coming from behind the case. "Well i'll be. There is something behind the shelf. Way to go Sherry." Joey's praise brought a smile to Sherry's face. Joey and Carlos then try to move the case but have no luck. It was like it was nailed to the floor. "Damn, this thing won't move for nothing!" "Just adds that there is something up here." Joey notes. "Maybe there's some kind of switch mechanism that moves it." "Like this?" Joey and Carlos look over to Claire in front of a painting and she presses what looks to be a button. The case made a rumbling noise and slid horizontally revealing a secret passage.

Joey and Carlos took a peek in and the first thing they noticed was an elevator. Joey pops back out "There's an elevator in here. Thanks Claire, nice one!" Claire nodded then let out that cute smile again. That smile always got to Joey deep down. Alright lover boy, let's find that sick freak." Carlos said after snapping Joey out of it. The group entered the elevator and made their descent down. Claire talked to Sherry while still in the elevator. "Now Sherry, this is where things are sure to get ugly. Just stay behind me and let everyone take care of this, okay?" Sherry nodded in agreement. "We're here guys." The elevator reached the lower level which looked like a dungeon. "Well, this is lovely...and disturbing." Everyone agreed with Joey as they made their way down the corridor. Before Joey could take one more step, a loud scream was heard. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The group was startled and on alert. Leon spoke up "What the hell was that?!" "That came from that door. Let's go!" Carlos answered and led the raid into the next room. When everyone entered, they finally found the Chief and also the body of a young lady dressed in white. Chief Irons, armed with a cleaver spoke up in a creepingly tone. "This is the Mayor's daughter. Isn't she beautiful? I was about to stuff her." Everyone was disgusted. Joey looked like he wanted to barf. "You are one sick son of a bitch, ya know that?!" Irons laughed and spoke again. "All of you prowling around at this time. You're after G too. Aren't you?" Leon and Joey had a confused look on their face and both said at the same time in a confused manner. "G?" "Don't play dumb with me!" Everyone had their guns aimed at the Chief, who then noticed Sherry and was surprised. " What's this? Aren't you 's…" Joey interrupted him. "That's enough you sick bastard. Time to die." Just before Joey fired his gun, Irons let out a painful scream, holding his chest and almost dropping to the floor. Chief dropped his cleaver and was dwelling in pain so much, he actually vomited on his hand. Everyone was taken back and Joey came a lot more closer to puking than before. The Chief's torso ripped in half from the inside because an unknown creature crawled out of Iron's body, leaving his remains as flat as deflated balloon. The only thing that remained was the B.O.W now standing tall and had its sights on our heroes.

"Holy shit." Leon muttered. He turned to Joey, "Now this is just a hunch, but if you aim for it's eye, that should do the trick." He nodded to everyone else. He aimed his gun, forgetting that he had no bullets in the clip. "Shit…Looks we're doing this the up close and personal way. I need you guys to distract it, while I do what I do best." Jill protested. "Leon, your wounds!" Leon shook his head. "You trust me yeah?" He said, drawing his knife, and aiming for the beasts eye. "Of course I do...but, I don't want you to die, is that so much to ask?" Leon chuckled. "What do you guys take me for, this two bit monster isn't enough to get me down." He repeatedly plunged his knife into the abominations eye, and after what seemed like an eternity, the monster fell to the ground, coughed up some blood, and lay still. Leon was panting. "Shit…" Jill went over to him, kissing him on the lips. "Don't do something so risky again." She smiled. "Yes ma'am." Leon chuckled. Joey gave him a thumbs up, while Sherry clinged to Claire, who was trying to comfort her from the horror she had just witnessed. Joey then turned his attention to the young girl as well. "It'll be fine, it's dead, and won't hurt anyone else." He muttered gently, holding Sherry close.

Leon meanwhile was looking at the husk of Brain Irons. "Serves you right." He spat on the corpse, and turned around. "Justice...if you could call it that." Leon said quietly. "Now lets get to that lab, every minute we dally means that this city comes one step closer to the end, this is the final stretch guys." Leon smiled. "We're almost out of here." The group discovered a secret passage with a ladder going down to the lower levels of the station. Joey volunteered to go first to see where it lead. Joey climbed down and ended up in the parking lot which in no surprise was also a mess. Joey screamed up the ladderway "It's ok! It's just the parking lot! Come on down!" The group heard Joey give the go ahead and made their way down. Everyone made it down and observed the area. "What a mess." Carlos said. Claire then noticed a door across the lot and pointed it out. "Does anyone know where that door goes?" Jill responded to Claire's question. "Yeah. That door leads to the dog kennel and the holding cells. In the kennel there is a manhole. I'm not too sure where it leads." Leon stepped up "Only one way to find out. Let's go everyone."

Leon took one step forward and shots were fired. The group was alert and cautiously made their way to the gunman. They took a peek toward the parking lot gate and there was a woman in red being attacked by zombies. The woman shot all zombies in their heads dead center. The woman really knew how to use a gun. All the zombies were dead but one snuck up behind her and was ready to bite. Leon and Joey drew their guns and shot the last one. The woman now noticed the group as they approached her. "Are you alright?" Leon asked the woman. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. You saved me some bullets." Leon started to introduce everyone. I'm Leon. This is my brother Joey, Claire, Jill, Carlos and Sherry." The woman observes the group as they wave and or say hello. "Nice to meet you all. I'm Ada Wong." Ada turns to Leon. "Hey, you're a cop here right? Do you know a Ben Bertolucci? I'm looking for him." Leon shook his head. "Sorry no. I just got assigned here." Jill had a look on her face like she was remembering. She heard that name before but could not narrow it down. Claire asked Ada "What brings you here Ada?" "Ben has information regarding the crisis. I don't know what kind of information, but that's what I'm here to find out." After Ada spoke, she rudely walked away from the group toward the back. "Leon called out "Hey!" The group had a look of uncertainty about Ada. Especially Joey and Claire. "What is with her?" Claire asks Joey. "I don't know, but I'm starting to not like this." Joey, due to his gut feeling, was now suspicious of Ada. He knew deep down something was up with this lady. He had his eyes on her. Leon stopped Ada. "What is it?" Ada said in a tone with attitude. "Look, I know we don't know each other, but we're the only survivors left. It's better that you stick with us."

Before Ada could answer, large loud footsteps were heard in the distance. Carlos was the first to hear. "Shhh, quiet! I hear something." Everyone stood quiet and slowly made their way down the path to the cells. A man was heard to be screaming. "No! Get away from me!" Ada recognized the voice. "Ben?" The man then made a blood curdling scream. If that was Ben, he was no doubt being attacked. The screaming stopped and the big footsteps resumed. Joey alerted the group. "It's coming this way. Retreat!" The group back up to the door while the Joey,Leon and Claire stayed at the corner to try to see what is coming their way. The source of the footsteps revealed itself in the form of a hideously deformed man-like creature. It looks as if it was entering the dog kennel. "What the hell…?!" Claire said in a terrified tone. The creature may have heard Claire because it turned around to face them. Before it could see her, Joey immediately pulled Claire away into his arms with one holding his gun ready for shooting. The creature thanks to Joey, did not see Claire and proceeded into the dog kennel. Ada looked over and called the group in "He's gone. Hurry. we have to see if that was Ben." "let's go everyone!" Carlos commanded as the group made their way to the cells. Joey and Claire were last behind. Joey was about to catch up but was stopped by Claire as he pulled his arm. "Listen umm…...thank you for that. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. It would've seen me and we'd all be finished. Thank you for saving me, Joey." Joey smiled at Claire and replied "Don't mention it. I know how you feel too. This night has really took a turn for the worse. But I have the utmost confidence that we're all gonna get out of here alive and well." Claire admired Joey's optimism and agreed with him. "Come on, we better catch up with the others."

Joey and Claire caught up with the group in the holding cell area and the mood in the air was grim. They had discovered a torn up body who was identified as the Ben Bertolucci Ada was searching for. "I'm sorry Ada." Leon said looking at Ada. "It's fine….wait...there's something on the wall there." The group looked and noticed a message on the wall. Leon read it to everyone. "With no hope of survival, I write this to those who see this so I can feel better that I actually helped someone. The station and the lower level lab at Umbrella is connected by a sewer." That line caught everyone's attention as they now have a possible escape plan. Jill finally spoke up "If we can access that sewer, we're home free." Leon turned away from the written on wall. "That's right…...wait..where's Ada?" Everyone looked around for her. Ada was long gone. "Damn! She must've snuck out while we weren't looking." Joey assumed. Jill agreed with Joey's theory and spoke again. "Well, nothing we can do for her. Let's just find that sewer way." The group left the lockup and made their way to the manhole located in the dog kennel. Everyone went ahead while Joey held up Leon to talk to him. "Leon...something doesn't check out with this Ada chick." "What do you mean Joey?" "This girl has suspicious written all over her Me and surely the rest don't trust her and neither should you." Leon knew his brother was serious about it and usually when he's suspicious about someone, he's right. Leon let out a sigh and grabbed his brother's shoulder as he spoke. "Ok man. You have a point.I'll take your word for it." Joey was relieved to hear his brother agree with him on this. They proceeded to catch up with the group and make it through the sewer.

That is, until a certain creature came to call. "That's the thing we saw earlier!" Claire shouted. "And I am still out of ammo...shit." Leon growled. Jill looked towards him. "We'll handle this one." Leon wasn't able to be completely stand back, as he had to dodge the vicious monsters furious blows. "Leon, use this!" Jill tossed him a shotgun, and leveled it with the monstrosities single glaring red eye, which released a rather large gout of blood, the monster began to teeter, following the wrenching sound customary of weakened metal, Leon fired a number of shots into the eye until he wandered to the edge and flipped over it, at that moment, the catwalk collapsed out from under Leon. The group dashed forward. "Leon!" "No!" Joey and Claire shouted. And so Leon, fell, and fell, and eventually landed in waist deep, surprisingly clean water, he raised his arms above the water, and stopped and listened for a second. He wasn't alone. He placed his gun in it's holster, and placed his hands on the ready with his knife.

"Hello?" He whispered. He felt a gun pressed into the small of his back. "Well, hello baby brother, it's been a while." A cocky voice that he hadn't heard in six years. "I don't believe it. You're still still alive in all this?" Leon said eyeing the woman's ID badge pinned to her lab coat, Lyssa Kennedy. Head researcher of the T-Virus team in the Underground Facility and an Umbrella executive. "S.T.A.R.S…" Leon's shoulders slumped. "Ah shit," Leon muttered. Lyssa grabbed his hand and dragged him along to hide in the shadows, silently crossing their fingers Nemesis would pass them by. Eventually he walked on. "Why are you helping me, your bosses want me dead after all." Lyssa shook her head. "I didn't want all this to happen, I just wanted to continue my work, the T-Virus research I was delving into was towards pharmaceutical use, and I got so caught up in my research, I didn't see the demon in disguise. Ozwell E. Spencer…" Leon looked at her, wordlessly, and then looked down into the dim tunnels, "I fell down here from the purification facility, I am trying to reunite with my friends, so we can get out of this city, or what's left of it…" Lyssa looked at him. "I saw Delta Team skulking down around here, laying in wait for you and your friends, as it is, they're after me too, so we're in the same boat. Turns out they learned of my betrayal pretty quick, but there is something I need to find before we get out of the city, if you follow me, we will grab what I need, and most likely run into your friends as well, ideally, that is."  
Lyssa and Leon walked through the tunnels until screaming was heard in the distance. "There's people down here?" Leon asked Lyssa "I'm pretty sure I'm alone here….wait...there is someone else…" Before Lyssa could continue, gunshots were fired. "Come on!" Leon and Lyssa followed the shots fired to locate the shooter. The Kennedy siblings walked through a door and noticed a figure taking cover against a wall. it was Ada. Leon recognized her and called out "Ada!" Ada noticed Leon and looked she was preparing to dash to him. "Ada, No!" Ada made one step out and the shooter fired again. Leon dove in front of Ada taking her to the ground with him. The shooter inadvertently hit Leon near his shoulder. "Leon!" Lyssa screamed. She then fired back at the shooter in order to move to her injured brother. "Ughh! Damn it!" Leon was seething in pain. "Leon…why?" Ada wondered. Lyssa looked up to Ada. "That's my brother for you. Just has to be the hero huh?" "And you are?" "Lyssa Kennedy. Leon here is my baby brother." "Pleasure. I have bandages here. I'll patch you up Leon." Lyssa had a smile on her face. She was grateful that is woman seems to care for Leon. "There ya go Leon. Just rest. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to find that woman." "Do you know her?" Lyssa asked. Ada had that look of concern on her face. "I..,I think I do." "Go ahead. I'm staying here with Leon. Be careful." Ada went off after the shooter. Lyssa stood by Leon's side to comfort her injured brother.

"Leon, you can be quite the dolt you know that? What made you save that woman anyway?" She arched an eyebrow. "We're all just trying to get out this hellhole alive, that and it was a spur of the moment kind of thing." He chuckled. "Shot in the arm, clawed in the side by a Hunter, I've been really clumsy this evening." She shook her head. "Jesus kid, how are you even still alive? That's beside the point, how's Joey doing?" Leon smiled."Pretty good, I don't think he expected to step into a nightmare like this, then again, I don't think any of us did." Leon lapsed into silence. "This kind of thing takes everything from you…" Lyssa pulled one of her legs in, and stared at her brother in silence. Eventually the duo stood up, "I suppose we should make our way to this underground facility to find whatever you are looking for, no?" Lyssa smiled. "I'm glad we ran into each other again." She smiled, the dim light catching her green eyes. "Follow me." She turned around. "Purple streaks? When did you get those?" He asked. "1996." She chuckled, pausing at the sound of gunfire."S.T.A.R.S…" Leon peered around the corner as he neared it. "Yup, that's my friends." He grabbed Lyssa. "You got a gun?" She produced a SIG P226, Leon let out a low whistle. "Nice. Now lets go bring this son of a bitch down once and for all. You got any handgun clips by the way?" Leon asked. Lyssa handed him two clips, one of which he slammed home into his Samurai Edge, the upper part of the barrel retracted with a satisfying click. Leon remembered one of the grenades he stripped from the belt of an RPD Select Force member, and sent it winging at the Nemesis T-Type. "Good start, now lets go shall we?" Leon nodded. "Yeah." The siblings fired bullets repeatedly at the Tyrant's cranial region, and with the concussive hail of gunfire, the B.O.W. finally collapsed in a pool of it's own blood. Leon was bumrushed by Jill, Joey, and Claire all at once, with Carlos standing back smirking. "How did you survive that fall?" Joey asked. "Not sure, lucky I guess?" "Long time no see, Joey." "Lyssa?" Joey stood up, embracing her. Jill and Claire looked incredulous. "You know her? She's an Umbrella exec!" Jill pointed out. "She's also our older sister." Leon pointed out. "Now that I think about it, I can see the resemblance." Carlos pointed out.

Joey whispered before introducing everyone to Lyssa. "It's probably the hair." That remark let out a laugh within the group with Joey no doubt referencing Carlos' compliment. "So Lyssa, allow me to introduce you to everyone. This is Claire Redfield." "It's a pleasure Lyssa." "Pleasures all mine Claire." Joey resumed "This here is also a member of STARS and a "very close friend" of Leon, Jill Valentine." "Putting me on blast again bro?" "No harm in it." More laughter ensues. "Nice to meet you Lyssa." "Likewise Jill. I hope my brother has been no trouble at all." "Oh no, not at all." Jill winks at Leon. Joey once again resumed. "Moving on! This is former U.B.C.S member Carlos Olivera. No worries sis, he is cool but guilty of having awesome hair." Carlos and Joey fistbumped, indicating they're getting along quite well. "It's an honor, Ms. Kennedy." "And of course, this here is…" Joey looks around frantically. "Oh shit! Where's Sherry?!" Everyone started looking around frantically, calling for Sherry. "Oh my god. She must've ran off when that big freak showed up." Claire assumed. "We gotta find her. Let's go everyone and keep a look out and keep calling for her." Joey demanded. Lyssa assisted Leon to his feet and got a move on in the search. "I've never seen Joey act like this before. When did this happen?" Leon smirked as he explained "Since he met Claire. He's kinda enamored with Claire." "I'm right here. God, even now you guys mess with me." Leon and Lyssa laughed. "I really can't blame him. She is a beautiful young lady. Good for him."

The group made it to the end of the sewer, entering double doors leading into a room with a bridge mechanism. Everyone was on alert looking for Sherry. "Freeze!" The group turned their attention to a woman in a white coat holding a gun at them. Leon being the cop he is spoke up "Drop your gun lady! You're outnumbered and this is not the time for humans to pull guns on each other." Lyssa stepped in front of the group with a shocked look on her face. "Annette?" This caused the woman to lower her gun. "Lyssa? What are you doing here?" "Um I'm with these guys and these two are my brothers I told you about, Leon and Joey." Annette had a look of relief on her face. "Lyssa, I'm so sorry. I thought that they were spies after G. I've been a mess since what happened to William." Joey interrupted the conversation. "Please pardon me for interrupting but.. Annette..Annette Birkin?" Annette nodded with confusion. "So...you're Sherry's mother." This got everyone's attention and it also startled Annette. "How….how do you know Sherry? I told her to stay in the police station!" Claire stood up and spoke. "The station was overrun. It was too dangerous for her so we brought her with us." "But then she may have ran off scared when this huge one-eyed STARS obsessed freaking behemoth attacked us." "That was a highly advanced Tyrant type we nicknamed Nemesis." Lyssa whispered. "How fitting." Joey cracked. "He was one of Umbrella's greater creations with high intelligence, strength of a raging bull and much more durability than any other Tyrant to date." Leon spoke up. "I remember reading about that. So if you say that Nemesis is much more strong, you mean he's gonna keep coming back?" Lyssa didn't want to give the bad news but had to. "Yes, he was practically made to be invincible." The group moaned and groaned at the news. Annette spoke again "Please focus! You have to find my daughter before William does!" "Woah what do you mean before William finds her?" Joey asked. Annette came clean about the monster aside from Nemesis that stalks the RPD. "That creature...with the large arm with the red eyeball….that was William. His sole mission is to find a host to his embryos to replicate a monster like him. In order for it to work, he needs to infect one of the same blood. Family. The G-Virus he had created was seized by Umbrella, but it was flawed, even though it was supposed to be a boon for these modern times by putting evolution into our hands...Even if you somehow survive the seroconversion with G, you become little more than a puppet to it's will."" The group agreed they needed to hurry then Claire offered Annette to join them. "Come with us Annette. We'll all find her." "I'm afraid I can't. There's something I must do." Joey and Claire showed their disgust. "Are you kidding? This is your daughter we're talking about here! What the hell is more important than family?! Come on everyone. We have a little girl to save."

Joey led everyone past Annette and through another door leading deeper into the madness that awaits our surviving heroes. The group came into a wide open pathway. "Sherry? Sherry?" Joey shouted. Just then something shook ground, shaking dust from the low ceiling above them. Leon was quick to point out they weren't alone. Jill was the first to notice the source however. "Holy shit." She grabbed Leon and pushed him back to avoid the massive snapping jaws of the biggest alligator they had ever seen. "Goddamn, how the hell do we get past that?" Carlos shouted. "Shoot the chains of those high pressure canisters!" Claire pointed out, and with a quick burst of gunfire, he did so, with the mutant snapping it up. Leon squinted, and aimed down the sights, and fired, it hit the compromised canister dead center, blowing off the entire upper portion of the beasts skull with a deafening explosion. "I can't believe that actually worked." Carlos remarked. The group walked past the bloody remains of the alligator and made it to the end of the tunnel and reached what looked to be a trash compactor area. "Well, this sucks." Carlos said while holding his nose. "Oh my god! Sherry!" Claire pointed out. Sherry was on top of a garbage pile unconscious. The group jumped in and hauled ass over to Sherry and attended to her.. Claire tried to wake up Sherry. "Come on Sherry. Wake up! Please wake up!" Sherry slowly but finally awakes. Everyone was relieved but only until Sherry speaks. "Claire? My stomach...it hurts." The mood in the room turned grim as they knew what that meant. "Oh god." Joey said. "We're too late." Joey's words brought worry to Sherry. "Claire, what does he mean?" Claire softly puts her hand on Sherry's face. "There's nothing to worry about Sherry. Come on. We better get out of here and quick." Leon turned to him. "There might be a way to help Sherry, G is a virus, it should have a vaccine…" Claire nodded. "Annette mentioned something about the P-4 Level Lab, so there's a lead, I guess. I think that once we get there if we split up, that will make it much easier. We can save Sherry, we just need to hurry." Eventually the group found themselves under the wide open sky on a platform that appeared to be a train car. Using a key they had found earlier, Leon started the platforms descent, which dragged on and on into eternity it seemed, until, with a jarring metallic thud, it stopped. Claire took Sherry into the room immediately in front of them while Leon and the others busied themselves taking out the undead researchers. Claire gently placed Sherry on a bed that was in the room' "Sherry, I need you to stay here and rest ok? I'm gonna go back out and help the others. I promise we'll be right back." Sherry nodded in agreement and Claire went out to help the others but did not expect something worse than zombies. "Oh my god!" Claire said as she stood before a huge grey-skinned bald man like creature in a long dark coat. Mr.X has arrived.

"Where the hell did he come from?!" Joey screamed. "Who cares?! Just shoot the damn thing!" Carlos suggested. The gang shot almost every round they could at the monster. Mr.X finally collapsed but only to his knees. Joey walked up to the creature with his Magnum drawn, reloaded and aimed to it's head. "See ya later, you bald headed bitch!" Joey fired directly into the forehead of the creature, sending it down for the count. "I am getting really sick of that son of a bitch." Leon growled, his vision starting to blur, his knees buckling. Jill went over to him. "You all go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a minute." Lyssa nodded with a smile, placing a hand on Jill's shoulder, and then went with the rest of the group to lead them to the P-4 Lab. "It's a good thing I got the bullet out of your shoulder, you really are kind of a dolt, but you're my dolt." She smiled as she removed Leon's blue armored vest, and the shirt underneath. On the plus side, the bleeding had slowed incredibly, "You heal really quick." Jill pointed out. "Neither of them are big wounds." Leon said. "You say that, but honestly you aren't looking too good." Jill said worriedly.

Leon tried to stand up, only for Jill to push him back down gently but firmly, nodding in the negative. "You've been fighting all night to keep us all alive, it's your turn to lean on us for a while. You stay with Sherry, keep an eye on her, we'll handle this, alright? It shouldn't take too long, then once we do that, we can all get out of here." Leon finally relented, and made his way to the small room Sherry was in, and flopped himself down next to Sherry, looking up at the ceiling. There was no doubt he would be having nightmares about this for quite a while after the fact. "Leon, are you going to be ok?" Sherry asked. Leon smiled at the young girl, nodding. "You got it, and don't worry, nothing will get you, not on my watch. Claire and the others are battling to get the vaccine as we speak, and we'll all make it out of here fine, and reach the dawn." This brought a smile to Sherry's face but it soon went away when another burst of pain troubled Sherry's stomach. Leon laid Sherry on her side to rest and comforted her. "Please guys, make it fast."

The group was on the way to the monitor room to get to the lab where vaccines are made. The group halted as they noticed a bloody slumped figure on the wall outside the L-4 lab. Lyssa recognized the figure and shouted "Annette?!" The gang hauled ass toward Annette, who had large stab wounds in her stomach. "Annette? What happened?!" Lyssa asked. "It...was William. He's still alive...and he's getting stronger with each skin he casts off." Claire had to know how to save Sherry and she had to ask now. "Tell us what we need to know Annette? How can we save Sherry? William implanted her with his embryos and I think Sherry doesn't have too long…..." "Sherry!.."Annette whispered. "Here's a file on how to prepare the antidote. You can make it in the lab near by. Please...save my daughter...tell her...I was never a good mother….but I always loved her…" The lights in Annette's eye were gone. She was dead. Everyone mourned for Annette as Joey closed Annette eyes. Joey's face of sadness turned into rage and seriousness as he looked up like he was ready for war. "Let's go guys." Joey said as he cocked his gun. "We got a little girl to save."

Meanwhile the Wolfpack had managed to stumble through hell and back to get the underground research facility, they had come to realization that Umbrella had treated them the exact same way as the UBCS, and were no more than expendable. Their intention was to capture the Birkin girl, as Lupo referred to her, as well as the others as leverage, but no doubt as soon as the operation went ass up, Umbrella was willing to let them die in the wreckage of Raccoon City, it was as good as employee termination, to put it lightly. They had pressed a button to call the train back up, which stirred Leon out his drowsy revelry. "What? Someone calling the train platform back up? That can't be good." Leon awaited with baited breath as he stepped outside of the small office, and waited to see what was next. Eventually the deadly Wolfpack came into view. "Oh shit!" Leon began to turn tail to grab Sherry, until he was grabbed by Lupo, who had removed her strange blue mask. "Easy kid, easy. We aren't here to kill you, it didn't take long for Umbrella to stab us in the back. The way I see it, you and I, we're in the same boat."

Leon crossed his arms. "You'll understand if I am not necessarily willing to believe you since just hours ago you were more than willing to kill all of my friends and send Sherry back to the horrible "people" that you once referred to as your employers." Lupo sighed. "I understand that, mon ami. You aren't looking too good though. I could have my teams medic patch you up, if you wish." A silent blonde woman looked at him, no doubt studying him with the cold fascination characteristic of the most clinical of scientists. Leon returned the gaze. He'd be damned if he showed fear in the face of these individuals. "Learn to relax, kitz, Bertha can patch you up." Leon had the feeling she was smirking behind that mask. "So you're German?" Leon ventured. "You got it." "Bertha" nodded in the affirmative. After an awkward silence, Leon stood up, feeling much better. Leon regarded all of them.

"So what are you all going to do?" Lupo squinted. "First order of business, get out of this city along with you. Then? Gut Umbrella from the inside out, like they deserve." Leon nodded. "Looks as though we both have a similar mission. But as it happens, we have to get out of here alive…" "Agreed. Where are your friends now?" Lupo asked. "They're trying to make a vaccine for Sherry." Leon answered "She got infected by that creature with the eyeball arm. Worst thing is that the creature is her infected father." The Wolfpack knew that the creature was but it was still a disturbing thought that Sherry was attacked by her own father. "Ok, when everyone gets back. we'll come up with a plan of escape." Lupo stated/ "As long as they don't try to shoot us, of course." VECTOR reminded as the group is not aware of their commitment to help. The ground beneath them shook as soon as VECTOR spoke. The group turned their attention to the train and noticed a big glob on top of it with green eyes everywhere and tentacles whipping back and forth. It was Nemesis. "It's the Nemesis! He's reached his alternate form!" Lupo informed. "Holy shit! That's what he turns into?!" Leon questioned in shock. "Don't be so shaken up cop! We need your help to kill this thing once and for all!" Leon and The Wolfpack opened fire with hope to kill Nemesis for good. "This isn't doing anything!" Leon shouted. "We need something stronger, otherwise this will never end!" Seemingly from nowhere, Ada showed up, placing a rocket launcher firmly in Leon's hands. He stared down the sight. "Everyone...get down." He squinted, waited for the perfect shot, and squeezed the trigger, the impact of the rocket sending a gout of purple blood high into the air. "Did that do it?" The B.O.W. was barely moving at this point.

"Almost…" VECTOR concluded, producing a magnum handgun and firing repeatedly until Nemesis finally stopped moving. Leon sighed. At that moment, the rest of the group had returned with the vaccine. "What was with the commotion?" Claire asked. Leon nodded towards the remains of the monster known as Nemesis. "Something tells me he won't be bothering us much anymore. You have the vaccine right?" Joey produced it gently. "Yes, we do. Now let's get this to Sherry, and we can get out of here." Claire nodded. "I'll administer it." Claire went in while Jill finally realizes the Wolfpack and recognizes Foureyes. "Hey! You're the guys that attacked us in the station!" Leon stopped Jill and told her what had happened. "Jill, its ok. Umbrella stabbed them in the backs and left them for dead. They helped patch me up and helped kill that freakshow over there." Jill was shocked at what Leon told her and still looked at the Pack with uncertainty. "Leon, are you sure about this?" Leon nodded and gave his assurance. "Yes, they're cool." Jill backed off and trusted Leon but still didn't trust the Pack. After a minute of awkward silence, Claire returned with a fully recovered Sherry, bringing the group to celebrate their success. Just then, emergency sirens started blaring. "The self destruct sequence has been activated, this sequence may not be aborted, all employees must evacuate to the bottom platform immediately." Leon smirked. "As if we needed to be told twice, let's go."


	3. The Path for Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group is in the homestretch now. Everyone is looking to escape the hellish nightmare that is Raccoon City. Everyone makes it out alive and is thought to be in their safe haven. But for Joey and Claire, where one nightmare is finished, another is created.

Leon and his entourage had made it to the bottom platform, and found a train. "Alrighty, so we can use this to get out of here, we don't have much time, so one of us is going to have to go in there and fire it up." At that point, very heavy footsteps resounded through the wide area, shaking the ground. "I really don't like the sound of that." Carlos said. "One of us needs to take Sherry into the train so she doesn't become a target for...oh my god." It was that Tyrant that they thought they had defeated. Joey gripped Sherry's shoulder, steering her into the train very quickly. The massive Tyrant honed in on Lupo, Leon leapt in the way to defend her, and got hit pretty hard. He coughed up some blood. "Ugh, that hurts more than a really bad hangover…" Lupo looked down at him, picking him up gently. "You idiot, why did you defend me, cher?" Leon spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the otherwise pristine concrete. "That's what friends do." He staggered to his feet, and opened fire on the B.O.W. "That's right you son of a bitch, I'm not done with you, you're done hurting people." Leon rolled his shoulder. "Looks like you need my help again." Ada's voice came from an unknown location, along with another rocket launcher. "Perfect." Leon smiled.

"I need you guys to distract it, or weaken it just enough so I can blow it to pieces, and we can get the hell out of here. We don't have much time." In a hail of concussive gunfire, the Tyrant fell to it's knees, and it was now or never. "Sayonara." Leon muttered, and squeezed the trigger, the kick played hell on his shoulder, and he fell back, to be caught by Lupo. "You did good." She smiled. Leon nodded. "Thanks. Now lets get on this train shall we?" Leon looked at her. She picked him up, smacked him gently on the back. "Alright then." A loud screeching reached their ears. "Well, well. Look who it is." Jill remarked as a trio of Hunters appeared before them, their claws bloodstained as they advanced. "Oh please." VECTOR muttered. He tossed a fragmentation grenade, which shredded the beasts. He stood straight. "Now lets go." The whole gang entered the train and secured everyone in. Lupo and VECTOR entered the front car to start the train. Leon sat next to Joey,Sherry and Claire. "We did it guys. We're out of here." The group celebrated with joy as they agreed victory was theirs. Joey spared his seat for Jill who sat next to Leon and embraced him tightly. Joey kneeled down before Claire and Sherry to speak to the 12 year old. "How you holding up Sherry?" "I'm ok." The shy 12 year old said. "Thank you and you Claire for protecting me. I'm grateful to have met you all. Joey and Claire smiled. "It was our pleasure to have met you Sherry." "Thank you again Claire for the vest as well. Are you sure you want me to have it?" Claire let out her small cute laugh. "You keep it. It's yours now, for good luck." Joey nodded his head "I think it's really brought you good luck." Sherry smiled, laughed and pulled in Joey and Claire for a group hug. Joey called Leon over to join in. As soon as Leon joined the group hug, the train jerked, knocking almost everyone on the ground. Lupo and VECTOR came out of the front car to check on everyone. "Is everyone alright?" Lupo asked. "Yeah, we are." Leon answered. "What the hell was that all about?" Beltway stepped up and spoke. "I think I have an idea what it is. Everyone stay here and secure yourselves. We'll be back." Carlos stepped up and spoke too. "If it's something that bad, let us help." Lupo looked back at Carlos. "Thanks for the offer, but we won't be long." The Wolfpack exited to the back cars to investigate, leaving our heroes clueless. Lupo stopped and looked for a second, suddenly the sound of metal wrenching echoed throughout the tunnel, revealing William Birkin. "SHERRRRRY!" "Oh, fuck me…" Beltway growled, noticing the monsters wide open mouth, which gave him an idea. He primed a grenade and tossed it to whittle the former researcher down. VECTOR gave him a silent thumbs up. "We aren't going to die here, we've come this far." Bertha said, pulling out her assault rifle, removing her mask and taking a deep breath. "Die Vorbereitung auf die." She muttered, firing at the numerous red eyes.

Just then Leon shouldered open the door. "I figured as much." He rolled his eyes, pulling out a shotgun he found in a cabinet. "Vous imbecile…" Lupo rolled her eyes. She knew better than to argue with the young cop, and turned back around to fire at the monstrosity. Leon smirked. Just like the Rocket Launcher the kick played hell on his shoulder, but he didn't care, so long as there wasn't a bullet in it, he wasn't going to object, he loaded more shells into the weapon and proceeded to fire dodging Birkin's tentacle swipes. "I'm not Japanese…" He muttered, VECTOR turned around for a minute, and flipped him off. "Oh shit, my bad…" VECTOR shook his head and continued with the task at hand. Leon noticed that Birkin was latched to the coupling, and so long as that was the case they weren't going anywhere, "Shoot his arms attached to the coupling!" Leon pointed out, "If we can do that, we can lose him!" Lupo nodded, and shot the arms off. "NOW!" She shouted. Soon enough Birkin was swallowed by a massive fireball as the Wolfpack and Leon leapt back into the intact train car as flames washed the white and red metal. Leon sighed, and leaned back against the wall, the dull shaking had a soporific effect, but he couldn't sleep yet.

Eventually, the train rolled to a stop, and the large group stepped out. The sun had just started to crest the hills. Leon breathed deep, and looked around. Just then, three missiles flew overhead. "Oh shit." Leon shoved everyone back into the train car with him in tow as a massive blast wave shaking the train car, yet somehow they lived. The force of the shockwave pushed the train car a few feet. Leon had been knocked out temporarily. He was gently shaken awake by Jill. "Thanks for your quick thinking Leon." He smiled sheepishly. "I didn't think it would work." She kissed him, which received an odd look from Lupo that didn't go unnoticed by Leon. Jealousy?

Eventually the group made their way back out, witnessing Echo Six standing there, looking at the nuclear induced devastation. "They lived?" Lupo pointed out. "Impressive." The group approached them, Leon and Joey in particular. "Just the two we were looking for." Dee-Ay smirked. "As dictated by our commander, we were monitoring your conduct, and honestly, you both could make expert Secret Service agents with training that is, you could co-opt out efforts, the choice is yours." Perhaps unsurprisingly, Joey refused. Leon however accepted. Party Girl went over to Sherry, and got down to one knee, and smiled. "Can I see that pendant sweetie? I'll give it back, it's what is in it that I need." Sherry hesitantly handed it over, Sienna expertly cracked it open, and removed the G-Virus sample, closed the pendant, and handed it back to Sherry. Joey was protesting Leon's choice to go with Echo Six as he slipped out of the RPD body armor. "I gotta do this bro, to keep things like this from ever happening again. We're gonna go our separate ways for awhile, but no doubt I'll keep in touch." Jill gripped his hand, smiled worriedly, and nodded. "I am worried for you, but we all have to make our own choices, this isn't the end, but rather, the beginning of something new and beautiful. We'll meet again, Mr. Kennedy." A solitary tear traced it's way down her cheek. Leon smiled. "No need to cry now." He gently stroked her face. He pulled the S.T.A.R.S. patch off his sleeve. "Keep it safe for me." He also handed his knife and gun over. "These too."

Dee-Ay walked over to Leon. "It's not immediate, we'll give you two weeks to say your goodbyes, welcome to Echo Six, rookie." Leon nodded, "Well, I guess I'll catch you later." He nodded to Echo Six as a helicopter touched down to pick them up. As the helicopter pulled away, Leon turned back to his family to face a happy and tearful Jill but also an upset brother. "Joey, I'm sorry. I know this isn't the reunion we wanted and for it end like this. But I feel this is the right thing to do. You understand right?" Although upset, Joey answered his brother with a tone of uncertainty. "Yeah, I guess so." Lyssa approached her brothers with a smile on her face. "My baby brothers are all grown up. I'm proud of you guys. Leon, I support and respect your choice." Leon smiled and appreciated his sister's support. Lyssa then turned to Joey. "You have every right to be upset Joey. But think about this. What if this chaos never happened and Leon continued to serve as a cop. He'd still be away." "Being a cop and working for the Secret Service is very different, Lyssa." Joey answered with a stern look on his face. Lyssa nodded in agreement as Joey was right. "Look Leon. I do respect your choice. I don't like it but I do respect it. But you do give me your word we'll keep in touch." Leon nodded with a smile on his face. "You have my word, little brother." Joey and Leon initiated into a brotherly handshake and hugged. "If you don't mind." Joey said after the hug "I have something to finish." Lyssa, Joey and Leon looked back at Claire and Sherry. They knew what he was talking about and let Joey off to speak with Claire and Sherry. "You two okay?" "We're fine. Just cleaning each others messy faces." Claire answered with a smile. Joey smiled, but it turned into a frown when he kneeled before Sherry. "Sherry...there's something I have to tell you. A message from your mom." Sherry had a concerned look on her face. "Your mom wanted us to tell you that she was aware that she never spent a lot of time with you and she hated it because she felt she failed as a mother. But she always loved you Sherry. I'm sorry." Sherry knew what he meant. Her mother had died. Sherry burst into tears on Claire's lap. "I'm sorry. I thought you should know." "It's ok."Claire said looking up to Joey. "It was best she knew." Joey nodded nervously then sat down next to Claire. "So..ummm Claire. Thankfully now that we are out of that nightmare, what are you going to do now?" "I still have to find my brother." Leon meanwhile had noticed that Lyssa had distanced herself away from the rest of the group, the lab coat she was wearing laying pathetically on the ground, her bare shoulders slumped. "I, I did this. This disaster, it was my fault. If only I had seen the outcome, I would have never joined Umbrella." Leon wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "We all make mistakes, but we can atone for them. It's not too late for you to do so. I wasn't able to save most of my fellow townspeople, which is why I am going to fight against Umbrella, so as long as I have the energy to do so. But in the meantime, what say we make it back home? To mom and dad. It's not like we have much choice otherwise."

Lyssa sighed. "If you insist." Leon nodded to Joey. He turned to Carlos and Sherry, and the Wolfpack, as well as Claire. "So what are all of you going to do?" Lupo spoke first, "Well, mon ami, I consider myself freelance, I can't speak for my wolf cubs though. I will go where the wind takes me, so to speak." Claire spoke next, "I have to find my brother." She said simply, as for Carlos, he simply replied that he had nowhere to go, and placed a hand on Sherry's shoulder. "Can we come with you guys?" He arched an eyebrow. "I don't see why not." Leon responded, "Our parents have a pretty big house. Once we explain the situation, no doubt they'll be more lenient." This brought a big smile to Carlos and Sherry as they moved toward the Kennedys as they're ready to go. Claire approached Joey with a small frown on her face. "I guess this is goodbye for now huh?" "Yeah..I guess so." Joey felt sad about the situation. He was hoping to spend normal time with Claire. "Don't be down Joey." Claire said as she picked his chin up. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" It's a long trip and could get hasty." Claire giggles at Joey's offer. "No, I think I'll be ok. You got family to attend to. I'm glad to have met you Joey." Claire hugged Joey which took him by surprise but embraced her as well. Claire looked to everyone. "I'm glad to have met you all. I'll remember you guys and hope to see you again." Everyone waved at Claire as she made her way to find her brother. Joey was still depressed over it. He actually cared for Claire. Who knew love would be brought to him in the middle of an apocalypse. Leon and Lyssa noticed Joey's sadness and made their way to comfort their little brother. "It's ok Joey." Leon said. "I'm sure you'll get to see her again under more normal circumstances." "I hope so." Joey said still sad. "You really care about this girl huh little bro?" Lyssa said with a smirk and Joey admitted it. "Yeah, I do."

"I can't say I blame you, she is quite the looker, there is no denying that." Leon chuckled. The Wolfpack had already taken their leave. "I suggest we clear out of here before the military shows up." Leon prompted. The trio began walking, towards some level of sanctuary. Eventually they were on a distant hill overlooking Raccoon City, or it's smoldering remains. Leon did the stations of the cross. "Goodbye, Raccoon City. It was nice knowing you." Strengthened by his resolve, Leon walked on, his four allies in tow. In reality, he was just looking forward to a good nights sleep. "I know bringing money with us would have been a good idea, but here we are. I suppose there is no reason for complaining now."

By the time the group had reached the town where the Kennedy's resided, it was already almost pitch black outside. Leon managed to somehow knock on the door, which was opened by a middle aged looking woman, with the bangs so customary of the Kennedy's. "My god, Leon. Is that you? You look as though you've been through hell, and who are all these people?" Leon smiled sheepishly. "Well, obviously there's Joey here, and the other three are people who fought alongside me to escape from the hell that is Raccoon City. Which was eradicated by a nuclear explosion, I have nothing, we need to stay here, just for two weeks, that should be enough." Vanessa Kennedy pulled her sons in, nodding at Jill, Sherry and Carlos. "You take as much time as you need, though would you explain the high power weaponry you are all carrying?" She arched an eyebrow. "Well, with all the monsters that Umbrella unleashed in Raccoon City kinda demanded it. Right now, I just need some sleep." Vanessa held her children close. "Well, we still have your rooms, they're untouched, go see for yourself. Your father and I kept the like that, it's nice to reminisce, I remember when you two were tiny. Elliot and I, we were so young, and scared shitless, but you turned out well enough. And it seems you have a young charge of your own." She said, smiling at Sherry.

Leon explained to her Sherry's situation. "That poor girl, I'm glad she has you and your friends, she needs someone to lean on, I know what she's going through, no doubt about that. You all look like you need some sleep though, I'll let you get to that. I'm glad you're back, we can all do introductions tomorrow. Your clothes are all in tatters, thankfully we have tons of spare clothes, but go go, we'll see you in the morning." Leon smiled at his brother, and nodded. He laid an arms around Jill, and they went into Leon's old room. Jill began kicking her clothes off until she was in nothing but her underwear, black as night...Leon looked away in respect, which prompted Jill to chuckle. "Am I really that hideous?" Leon shook his head. "That's not it!" He said hastily. "It's just a courtesy thing." He insisted, pulling his vest off, followed by his shirt. His wounds were almost healed from the looks of it. Jill went to the bathroom branching off from Leon's room, producing bandages and scissors to snip it clean, along with wound ointment. "One more time should do it. So you don't bleed all over the sheets. Now just sit for a moment, and let me work my magic, I'm glad Rebecca taught me a few tricks."

"I bet, I should have approached her so she could have taught me all this stuff before the disaster." Leon said, eyeing Jill's breasts. "Up here, silly." She chuckled. "I'm sorry, I was kinda entranced." Jill pushed him over gently. "Yeah, yeah, you perv." She gently rolled over him, and pulled the blankets up, and fell asleep rather quickly, arms around him, her features illuminated by the thin shaft of moonlight pouring in from the partition in the curtains. It would later turn out that Jill was not really asleep at all, but rather, contemplating. "Leon, do you think Joey and Claire will be alright, I just can't help but shake this feeling that something really bad will happen that is going to tear us all apart." Leon shook his head. "I don't think so, we survived the hellhole that was Raccoon City." She nestled her head in his shoulder. "Let's just get some sleep, we'll still be here in the morning." Surprisingly the two managed to sleep soundly, perhaps miraculously.

Leon woke up at about seven in the morning, doubtless everyone else was still asleep, he slipped out into the pleasantly cool morning air. The sun was just starting to crest the hills, and rays of golden light illuminated spots here and there, with a few birds chirping. The former cop let out sigh of relief. He had two weeks of relaxation time, and then the big challenge came, he wasn't going to let Umbrella get away with all this. Leon shook up because he was startled by his well rested brother. "Damn, you scared the hell out of me, Joey." Joey cracked his devious smirk again. "Still rattled from last night? I see." Leon admitted it. It may be a new day but incidents like that stay with you for a long time. "It's not something you just forget man. I'm surprised you seem like your usual self." "Well why would you want to remember that nightmare anyway? It's all over Leon. We should be happy right now that were home safe, literally." Joey calmly said to his brother with great points. Joey was one to always look at the positive things and look forward in life. Leon thought it was great to see his little brother not too affected by it anymore, but also felt maybe he was acting like this to avoid looking like he was still suffering from Raccoon and or maybe he was still down about Claire. Vanessa called her sons in for breakfast where Carlos, Jill, Sherry and their dad, Elliot awaited at the table.

Leon arrived at the table where Joey, Carlos. Sherry, Jill and his parents waited with breakfast, coffee and milk lated in front of everyone sitting. Leon and Joey had their favorite plates of scrambled eggs, waffles and sausages while the others only had bagels and cereal. "So Leon…" Vanessa spoke getting Leon's attention. "How about introducing us to your friends here?" Leon finished eating and cleared his throat. "Well mom. This here is Carlos Oliveira. He was working for the U.B.C.S getting any survivors they came across out. Unfortunately, he was let go and left for dead. So we thought he was a cool guy and brought him with us." "Very nice to meet you Carlos." Vanessa greeted Carlos. "It's a pleasure Ms. Kennedy. I must say your sons are two great heroes." Vanessa had a huge smile on her face to hear that her sons were grown up heroes. Leon continued to Jill now. "Mom, this is Jill Valentine. She was a fellow member of S.T.A.R.S in the R.P.D. I met her when I arrived." Jill greeted Leon's parents and shook their hands. Joey looked up from his plate. "And you should know mom, that they are very much into each other." Joey added which made Leon and Jill blush. Elliot laughed at Joey's comment. "Well good for you, son! I'm happy to hear you two are very happy with each other. Which brings me to you, Joseph." This caused Joey to look up with a bit of discomfort as he hates being called by his full first name. "When will you find your significant other?" Elliot asked his younger son. Joey's smirk turned into a small frown as he did find the girl. Leon spoke for his brother as he saw the look on his face.

"He did actually. We ran into her while resting in a cafe." This brought a curious look into Elliot's face. "Oh really? Who was she?" Joey stopped Leon and wanted to answer that. "Her name was Claire Redfield. Believe me when I say this guys, she was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. That red hair, her blue eyes and that angelic voice. Truly a one of a kind." With the way he talked about Claire, everyone at the table agreed in thought that Joey thinks Claire was the one. Leon patted his now sad brother on the back. "She really means a lot to you huh? Joey nodded in affirmative. "I'm sure you'll see her again, man. No worries." The table had that smile people would have after hearing something cute. Vanessa was the first to speak up. "So what happened to Claire?" Joey's frown grew bigger when he was asked that. "She suddenly walked off to find her brother who went missing for three months. I understood she had to go but I wish we talked some more or at least brought myself to say goodbye properly." Joey let out a long sigh before continuing. "I don't know what it is but I definitely agree with Leon. I have this odd feeling that I will see her again. Sooner than later too. Good or bad, don't know." Jill spoke up with intents to change to the subject to lighten the mood. "Say, how about we finish up here and spend the day out together? I'm sure there's so much to do before we all move on." The table agreed and finished up their food to get a move on with their lives.

In two weeks time, Leon would be apart of the Secret Service and assist Echo Six when he was needed. Carlos would start over in life and take care of Sherry. Jill would try to move on to enjoy life and wait for her man at home. Joey's attempt to enjoy his life however, would be cut short three months later as he would receive some unsettling news from Leon that would drag him back into the dark and disturbing world of the undead. News that he had no idea that would change his life, humanity and sanity forever.

Three months later, Leon S. Kennedy was now a member of the Secret Service and a side member of Special Ops Echo Six division to help rescue civilians from future outbreaks like Raccoon City. Leon was comfortable as he was welcomed with open arms thanks to Dee-Ay putting in the good word for him. Leon did his best to occasionally keep in touch with his loved ones whether it was by email or over the phone. Leon kept in contact with Joey the most as he was more often available and Joey's cheerful nature would help Leon out whenever he was down and motivate him to keep fighting.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Europe, Claire Redfield, now wearing a new red vest, blue jeans with a red belt along with her cowgirl boots she still wore from Raccoon City being hauled into a helicopter handcuffed. Her search for her brother had really taken a turn for the worse. She was caught and taken prisoner in the Umbrella facility she thought Chris would be at. The helicopter lifted off and made its way to its destination. An prison island owned by a wealthy family who was also associated with Umbrella. It was called Rockfort Island. Hours later Claire had awoken in her cell which was left open with no guards around. She thought it would be a good time to be scarce. Claire regained her Browning HP Pistol Leon had given her in Raccoon and made her way to the surface. "So glad to be out of there. But what's going on up here?" Claire had said to herself in mind. She found herself in a cemetery where many graves lied but something was off about the graves. They looked disturbed. Almost as if something had been dug up. Claire took a step forward and a hand suddenly risen from one of the many graves. A zombie had risen and made its way toward a now terrified Claire. "No!... Not again! Please not again!" A terrified Claire said as she backed away from the undead monster. As Claire turned around, there were many more zombies behind her, showing hunger for flesh. Claire didn't have enough bullets to take them all down and had to escape before she became zombie food. She ducked and dodged the dead and made her way to a near by door.

Claire exited the graveyard area exhausted but relieved she got away from being food. She had to focus and move on but immediately ducked down when he heard a voice. She assumed it was a guard still patrolling the area. She was not going to allow herself to be taken back to her cell. She had to fight back. She waited until the footsteps got close enough for her to strike. As soon as she saw a foot, Claire attacked the man and held him up at gunpoint. "Wait! Please don't shoot! I'm not a zombie!" The man shouted. It turns out it was actually a young boy who was also a prisoner on the island. "I can see that. Who are you?" Claire asked still aiming his gun at the boy. "Easy lady. My name is Steve. Steve Burnside. I was trapped along with others on this crazy island." Claire thought long and hard whether it was safe to believe him. He didn't look like much of a threat so Claire decided to lower her gun. "Well hello Steve. I'm Claire. Claire Redfield. I was also taken captive here." Steve had a devious smirk on his face. A smirk that made Claire remember Joey's smirk. Only difference was Joey's was much more friendly while Steve's looked evil. "Claire huh? That's a pretty name. You know, there's an airport somewhere on this island. It can be used to escape this crazy place." Hearing news of escape brought that cute smile back to Claire's face. "Really? I'll come with you." Steve held up his hand in front of Claire's face, stopping her in her tracks. "No way, Lady. You'd only slow me down." With that rude comment, Steve took off leaving Claire disgusted by his selfishness. Claire had no choice but to move on and discovered an apartment filled with dead bodies. The beautiful redhead was disgusted by the smell of rotting flesh but had to keep going. Claire observed the area and noticed a computer still activated one desk. She knew this was a her chance to reach help and knew who to contact.

Meanwhile in his new Washington DC home, Leon had finished training in the gym to enhance his new combat moves. He wanted to email Joey about offering him a chance to learn some of his moves for self defense in case he had to. Leon signed on to his computer and immediately noticed he already had an email. He figured it was Joey trying to get in contact with his older brother but it turned out to be from someone else. Leon didn't recognize the email and assumed it was junk. He wanted to delete it but something told him to open it, so he did. As Leon read, the look on his face turned grim and for good reasoning. The email read "Leon, please help! I was looking for my brother in the Umbrella HQ in Europe and I got captured! I was sent as a prisoner to Rockfort island but it was attacked and it's now roaming with zombies! I also discovered that Chris was being monitored by Umbrella. Please find him and tell him I'm here looking for him and fast." The name of the person who sent the letter was finally revealed at the end. It was Claire and she was in trouble. Leon was biting his fingers in nervousness as he couldn't believe what he just read. He knew he had to help Claire out and had to do it quick. Before he could start the search for Chris, he picked up his phone and called Joey to notify him of Claire's message.

At the Kennedy household, Joey had just returned from his hour long bike ride he often likes to do in his free time. He in loaded and kicked back on his chair as he checked his email to see if Leon emailed him. As Joey was about to check his inbox, his phone rang with the number ID showing Leon's number. Joey picked up and spoke with his usual cool voice. "Hey big bro. What's up? I was just about to check if you emailed me" "Joey? Thank god you answered! Listen, something just came up and you need to hear this." Leon spoke so frantically it made Joey nervous and curious. "Woah, woah, woah slow down man. What's the problem?" "I got an email from a computer on Rockfort island from Claire. She's in trouble!" As soon as Leon said Claire's name, Joey's eyes lit up as he jumped up from his chair. "Wait, what?! Claire?! What's wrong?!" Now Joey sounded frantic as he still had a thing for Claire and was worried about her. Leon read the entire message he received to Joey, revealing the danger she is in being a prisoner and surrounded by zombies. Joey was pacing in his room as heard everything. "Oh my god man. We have to do something!" Leon set out to start the search for Chris as he talked to his brother on the phone. "I'm gonna try to track down Chris and let him know what's going...wait..what do you mean "we"?" Joey let out a big sigh as he stated what he was going to do and it would certainly set off Leon a bit. "Leon, I want you to set up a boat ride to Rockfort island. I'm going after Claire."

Leon sighed. He wanted to tell him to reconsider as this was going to be dangerous but with how Joey feels about Claire and how he sounded, he knew there was no convincing him. "I have some considerable pull, I'll see what I can do, but Joey, please be careful. Rockfort Island is a prison facility for those Umbrella deems creates big enough of a liability, it will be almost impossible to escape, so be prepared for that." Joey now sighed. He knew Leon was right that it was gonna be dangerous. But he had to do this to help Claire. "I'll be ready man. Thank you. Really means a lot." Leon smiled for a second then returned to his serious face. "I'm always here for you man. I don't like this but it's for Claire. I'll get in contact with someone to have a boat ready for you at the docks. I suggest you get ready now if you want to hurry." Joey smiled and started feeling jumpy. He was ready to go. "Thanks Leon. I'll call later if I can." With that, Joey hung up and started packing a small backpack. For whatever reason, Joey decided to don his outfit from Raccoon City, which was a white t-shirt under a rolled up sleeve grey plaid shirt with blue jeans and sneakers. "Oh, the irony here." Joey said to himself as he also noticed. The young Kennedy then dug up his Desert Eagle with many rounds of ammo just in case things get ugly and no doubt they will. Joey was packed and ready to go. He quietly said goodbye to his sleeping parents then left for the docks.

Claire in the meantime, was walking through the ruins of the island. observing the results of the devastating attack. "My god. What could've caused this mess?" Claire thought to herself walking through the rubble and ruins of a dreadful island. The young Redfield made her way onto a field in front of what looked to be a training facility. Before Claire could take a step forward, a sudden earthquake erupted, knocking Claire almost off her feet. "What was that all about?" Claire asked as she got back on her feet. She knew in her gut that something was off and cautiously approached the double doors of the facility. Claire felt the ominous mood in the air as the double doors closed behind her. She slowly walked through the main hall and noticed the only open door which was actually a shutter that contained another long hallway. Claire was not a fan of long hallways and she could not be blamed. Claire took a long breath and went through the hall and ended up in some kind of small courtyard. The area was engulfed in small flames with knock over barrels and boxes everywhere. As Claire was making her way to some stairs, she noticed a familiar red laser scoping the courtyard. Claire ducked out of the way as soon as the red laser touched her head of hair. She knew where the laser came from. It came from the same sniper rifle from the same man who almost blew her head off in the Ashford Palace. The psycho, Alfred Ashford had struck again. Claire was fed up from hiding. She cocked her pistol and ran up the stairs to confront Alfred but came face to face with the door he escaped through. Claire charged through door to door until she stopped and noticed she was in some kind of training room The door locked behind her as she picked up some machine guns. Claire was now more cautious as ever as she then made her way down a pair of stairs.

As she reached the bottom, Claire cast her gaze around, not expecting to be gripped by a massive, hideous beast with a constantly pulsing body, green veins covered it's entire upper body, and had one long arm, which Claire was desperately trying to escape from the massive hand on it's end. Claire felt this was the end. "This is it. I'm gonna die!" She thought. "Please help!" As she was drawing near unconsciousness, she was reawoken by the sound of a heavy, loud gunshot. Claire dropped to the floor hard and had trouble seeing as her vision was blurred. All she could make out was the monster being shot to death by a young man with a backpack armed with a rather large gun. His last round finally killed the one-armed creature for good. Claire tried to regain her focus but heard footsteps coming close to her. Her savior had approached her, kneeled before her and spoke. "Claire?!" The voice very familiar to her drew close. A voice she hasn't heard in three months coming from a young man she had been hoping to see again. She looked up at her savior with still a slightly blurred vision. The man said her name again "Claire?" and this made Claire shake her head and she finally was able to look at her savior. She gasped in disbelief as it was who she thought it was.. "Joey!" Joey had made it to Claire in the nick of time from getting her head crushed. Claire leapt into Joey's arms and embraced him tight. Joey returned the favor with relief that she was alive and well. "Oh my god, Claire! Thank god you're alright!" "I..I can't believe it. Joey, i'm so glad to see you! Perfect timing too!" Claire was almost in tears of joy that Joey had arrived to rescue her. She never thought she would see him again which made her more happy she did. "Ain't that right? I'm just so glad to see you and you seem to enjoy getting into all kinds of trouble." Both shared a laugh together. Their first in 3 months. "Joey, how did you get here? I'm very happy you did but how did you know about me?" "Leon forwarded me that email you sent him. He's busy tracking down your brother so , here I am." Joey had said while resting his hand on Claire's face with placing her hand on his. "I'm so glad you're here, Joey." "I'm glad to see you too, Red. Come on, let's get out of here." Joey helped up Claire and was ready to ditch this madhouse. Before the two could make a move, a door was kicked open which caused Joey to stand in front of Claire, gun drawn at the perpetrator who was also armed with machine guns pointed. The armed man turned out to be a young boy and it was someone who made contact with Claire already. It was Steve.

"Drop your guns, kid!" Joey shouted. Steve replied "Not happening dude!" Tension was in the air and bullets would fly to until Claire stepped in, putting a hand on Joey's shoulder to stop him. "Joey, wait! It's ok, he's clean!" Joey was hesitant but looked back at Claire. "Are you sure? He's a prisoner! He's here for a reason." "Yes I'm sure." Claire assured. "His name is Steve. He just wants to escape too. He's no threat." Joey was still unsure of Steve but if Claire was saying without doubt he was clean, he can take her word for it. Joey lowered his Desert Eagle as Steve lowered his Uzis as well. "Well if you say so. Sorry about that kid." "It's ok and i'm not a kid. The name is Steve." "Joey Kennedy" Joey offered for a handshake but Steve just left him hanging. Joey had that familiar feeling he had with Ada. He felt Steve was gonna be trouble. The introductions would be cut short with the voice of Alfred Ashford. "Sorry to interrupt the loving reunion, . But I am afraid you three will have to participate in my.."Funhouse." The three would then suddenly lose balance as the floor before them turned into a lift descending into madness. "Sooo is there something I missed here?" Joey asked. "Who was that clown?" "That was Alfred Ashford." Claire answered. "He owns the island. He went crazy after his sister died and now we're his "lab rats"." "Well...I really did come at a good time." Joey said with sarcasm as he knew what this nutjob had in store was not gonna be pretty. The lift stopped and reached it's destination. Joey lead the fray to the only door with his cocked and ready to go but looked back at Steve and Claire. "Now listen, I may have just gotten here but I'm sure whatever this nutjob has in store will not be good. Let's aim high, tread carefully and stay close. Goes double for you, Red." Joey said to Claire, which made her bring back that cute smirk she does. It was pretty clear that Joey was only there for Claire and it was no secret as to why.

Joey barged through the door with Claire and Steve behind him. They scanned the area and looked at a wood covered area the a name sprayed above the main entrance. It was called "The Kill House". It looked like an area where soldiers would go to train with weapons and targets, and of course it was sure to be filled with the walking dead. "What is this place?" Claire was first to break the silence. "It looks like a training area for soldiers to test their weapons skills." Joey answered based on a good guess. "This is insane!" Claire said with agreement from the others. "Insane?! Please!" Alfred had returned via an intercom. "War knows no sanity. is correct. Soldiers are trained here to kill, to slaughter. To survive through whatever madness they witness. And now it's your turn my little lab rats! Of course if you had enough and want to give up, all you have to do is die!" Alfred let out his creepy and disturbing maniacal laugh that sent shivers down Steve and Claire's spine but brought annoyance to Joey's ears. "Ignore him guys." Claire said. "We're all going to get through this together, no matter what." Claire looked to the guys for agreement. Steve was focused on thinking about what he was gonna do to Alfred. Joey however, gave Claire a nod to show he was focused on the current situation and ready to strike through this thing. Claire stepped in first with Joey behind and Steve dead last. Alfred spoke again to inform the crew of his "game". "Let's start, shall we? Here's how this works. Whatever pops out, you shoot! Be sure to not leave anything behind. ok?" This left the trio wondering what he meant but Claire and Joey had a feeling he meant what they thought it was. "Targets?!" Joey and Claire said simultaneously right before one popped up in front of the group. Joey noticed the target on the head and immediately shot it. "We gotta storm through this thing. No time to waste!" Joey led the pack through the maze shooting every target they spotted, along with every zombie they came across. At one point, a few barrels fell and almost crushed Claire until Joey pulled her out of harm's way. The trio had doubts but they finally made it to the end of the maze. They were agitated by Alfred's mind games. "Ugh, when I find this guy, I'm gonna shove my foot up his ass and shoot his kneecaps!" "Easy, we'll find him and he'll get his." Claire assured Joey with an attempt to calm him down. Steve however, was the one to worry about as he flipped his lid. "Argh! I'm gonna kill him when I find that freak show!" Steve was losing his cool all over. He was closing to knocking over every box near him. "Hey kid! Calm down, alright?!" Joey shouted with an attempt to cool Steve down. "Look, I don't know who you are and I don't care. You are not the boss of me! The only thing I feel are more trusting and reliable right now are these." Steve said while holding up his guns which what he was referring to. This really shocked Joey and Claire causing her to ask. "More reliable than people?" Her question brought Steve to calm down a bit and turn away, causing Joey and Claire to be even more curious. "Hey Steve, what's your story here?" Joey asked with Claire behind talking. "Yeah, who brought you here and where is your family?" "SHUT UP!" Steve screamed "I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT IT!" Steve closed his sentence with him firing many rounds from his Uzi into thin air. This behavior was enough to almost scare Joey and Claire with Joey standing in front of her with both of their ears covered. "Let's just go!" Steve said before he stormed off into an elevator.

Before Claire could walk to the elevator, Joey gently grabbed her arm to stop her. "Are you sure about this guy, Claire? He sure doesn't seem like the stable type" Claire felt Joey was right to be concerned as she also felt something was up with Steve. Something he's holding from them and it's tearing him apart. "After that, I'm not so sure right now." Claire replied. "Well I think we should at least look after him and see if he cools his head but I'm keeping my eye on him." Claire nodded in agreement to Joey's suggestion then both proceeded to join Steve in the elevator. There was nothing but awkward silence in the elevator as it made it's way up. No one talked. Steve was enraged while Joey and Claire stared at him with wonder. As the elevator reached its destination, Steve stormed out first and went through a wooden door. Joey and Claire looked at each other with the same thought that Steve had to be stopped. They proceeded through the wooden door and ended up on a balcony over looking a room where a truck was parked. The balcony suddenly gave way and caved, dropping our three heroes to the ground below. The three lied still until Claire and Steve struggled to stand. Claire noticed Joey on the ground with no sign of movement. Worried, she attempted to crawl toward him but couldn't. Her legs were caught under heavy debris. She attempted to pull her legs out but failed. "Joey?" Claire called out to Joey as an attempt to awake him. It didn't work which made Claire more worried. Steve was up on his knees and noticed the situation. "Hey, you guys ok?" Before Claire could answer, she noticed a zombie pop up behind Steve. "Steve, behind you!" Steve turned around and aimed high at the undead walker. The zombie faced Steve and questionably, Steve's arms shook and couldn't fire at the walker. "No! It can't be!" Steve said as he back away from it. Almost as if he knew who the zombie was before being infected. "What's wrong Steve? Shoot it!" Claire shouted at Steve. He heard her but didn't listen. "I...I can't! NOOOOO!" Claire was freaking out, trying to struggle free from the debris but would be forced to freak out more at what she saw next. The zombie had ignored Steve and turned its attention to an unconscious Joey and he was walking his way. "No! Stay away from him!" Claire panicked as Joey was in danger. She didn't expect him to hear her and now he was heading her way. Claire was panicking. She was about to be zombie food, until... "FATHER!" Steve screamed at the top of his lungs as he fired every bullet his Uzis had in its clips. The zombie went down for the count but Steve kept shooting until the clips ran dry. Sure, the zombie was dead and the gunfire had awoken Joey, but Steve was the one in the most pain as he said it himself, the zombie he just killed was his dad.

Claire had finally been free of the debris and assisted Joey to his feet right away. Joey was alright but his attention was brought toward Steve. "Steve...was that really your dad?" Steve nodded. "He was stupid,", Steve continued. "He thought it was a wise idea to sell insider information belonging to Umbrella, mom was killed, and he and I ended up here, I honestly thought I was going to die here, as for him, well, it was far from glamorous, really. I think it's safe to leave it at that." Joey and Claire were both heart broken. Steve was innocent this whole time but he lost his mom and was taken in with his dad. Joey felt horrible that he thought he would be a threat when really he was misunderstood and had legit reasons to lash out before. Joey spoke up to apologize. "Steve…I'm so sorry man. I..don't know what to say." "Do you want to stay for while? Just to rest?" Claire asked a sobbing Steve. Steve slowly dropped his head into his arms. Joey placed his hand on Claire's shoulders to get her attention. "I think it's best we give him some time. To say goodbye and all." Claire nodded in agreement and she walked out with Joey, leaving Steve next to his dad. Joey and Claire stepped out from the double doors that left them back in front of the training facility. Joey was scanning the area, looking for any threats. As for Claire, she had a grim look on her face from Steve's story. "Do you think he'll be ok, Joey?" Claire asked with wonder and worry. "I wanna think so Red, but I honestly don't know." Joey replied with a look of concern on his face. "I just hope he can strengthen himself up so we all can get out of here alive." Claire knew he was right. She knew Steve had to be focused to survive but also he could not be blamed for the traumatizing tragedy. "Such melodrama," Alfred via speaker rose its ugly voice again. "So beautiful. The pain and struggle we humans are capable of! But let's not forget the game. shall we? Your next and final mission awaits within my mansion!" Joey grew agitated by Alfred's voice and his mind games. "Alfred! Your time of ruining people's lives are over. Do us a favor and give yourself up now! Don't make me come after you. Because while you may be talking tough now, I guarantee you'll be singing a different tune when I am finished with you." Alfred let out that pathetic sinister laugh of his. He was no doubt amused by Joey's assertiveness. "Splendid! But first,how about a little brain teaser?" "Great, more mind games." Joey said in disgust. "The girl and the boy, destined to be one, will reveal the way!" Alfred's riddle left Claire questioning. "The girl and the boy? What?!" "I'll give you time to think about it. In the meantime, please allow me to introduce to you my cute little pet!"

"Uhhh….what does he mean by that?" Joey questioned. All of a sudden, the ground started to shake. It was thought to be an earthquake, but it turned out to be something worse. The ground near the young survivors erupted as a worm at least twenty feet long made its presence felt. It's mouth opened into six parts and let out a bellowing roar. "What the hell?!" Joey shouted as he and Claire stood terrified. They shook up and immediately fired at the hulkish worm. Things were getting complicated as the worm would often dig back underground and crawl around under the two survivors waiting to strike at the perfect time. Every bullet they fired didn't do much to the worm. Each shot would just bounce off of it like metal. "Nothing is hurting it! We're just wasting ammo. We have to run!" Joey suggested. HIm and Claire made a run for the door adjacent to the training facility doors. Claire ran through first and just as Joey would run through after her, the worm had risen and threw a near by large box at them. The box hit Joey in the back, knocking him down right before the door fully closed behind them. "Joey! Are you ok?" Joey was on the floor, groaning a bit in pain. "Ahh Damn! That stung. I'm ok, Claire. Really, I am." Claire helped Joey to the stairs leading toward the Ashford Mansion. Joey sat down on the steps to catch a breather. "Hey, go on ahead to the place. I'll catch up in a second." Claire nodded and made her way toward the tall front doors of the mansion like building complete with the Ashford symbol on it. Claire reached out to open the doors but suddenly stopped. "Greetings!" Claire was startled by a deep voice behind her. "You must be the lovely Claire Redfield." Claire noticed a dark shadowy figure walking toward her. "Who are you?" She asked. "the dark figure spoke, still walking toward Claire. "Let's just say that I am a ghost, coming back to haunt your dear brother." The figure came close enough to finally be seen and was instantly recognized by Claire. "Wesker?" "In the flesh. It seems there's not much explaining to do, is there? I was the one who attacked the island. Who would've thought you would be hanging about." Wesker had already made it up the stoop in front of Claire, letting out his sadistic and twisted laugh. "Oh, the better for me. Now that the cat has dragged in this nice surprise, your ever so caring brother will definitely show up. I must thank you for being such good bait." Claire was intimidated and uncomfortable with Wesker's presence and blabbering. "I don't know what went on between you two but you have it all wrong. My brother is not the kind of person you think he is." Just as Claire finished, Wesker walked up and grabbed Claire by the throat. "I despise Chris!" Claire was struggling to escape. "What are you gonna do to him?" Wesker replied with a fast backhand to Claire's face sending her flying across the aisle. She hit the ground hard and was in a lot of pain. Wesker slowly walked toward Claire and nailed her to the ground by stepping on her shoulder. "Oh, how your brother would be surprised to see you die!" Wesker was no doubt going to kill Claire to get back at Chris, but his plans would be thwarted by Claire's guardian angel. "Over my dead body!" Wesker looked toward the source of the disturbance and received a devastating soccer like kick to the face sending him back. Joey had returned to make the save again. "Joey!" "Stay behind me, Claire!" Joey said as he stood in front of her in a fighting stance. Wesker had regained himself and recognized the young boy he now faced. "Ahh. Well if it isn't Leon Scott Kennedy's little brother coming to the aid of his girlfriend." Joey grew agitated as Wesker mocked him. Wesker had turned to leave. "Well I suppose you get to live a bit longer after all, Ms. Redfield. As for you, Joseph, I've got my eyes on you" Wesker turned around to face the two with an evil smirk and noticeably his eyes glowing bright red. This caught Joey and Claire off guard. Before they knew it, Wesker had disappeared.

Joey loosened up and helped Claire back to her feet. "Are you ok? Who was that freak?" Claire sat down on the steps, holding her shoulder. "I am, thanks to you. That was Albert Wesker. He was the captain of S.T.A.R.S. He worked with Chris during the mansion incident. Something happened with them and now Wesker wants my brother dead." "That's not gonna be good for him or us now. Since your brother isn't here, he's gonna try to take it out on you." Claire had a grim look on her face. Joey was right that Wesker would target her now. Joey noticed Claire was worried and sat down beside her. "Hey, hey now. You have nothing to worry about. He's not gonna get to you. If he tries, he's gonna get more than a kick to the face. As long as I'm around, I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you, Claire. I promise." Joey's kind and caring words brought a smile to Claire's face which then brought a smile to Joey's face. Claire took Joey by surprise as she wrapped her arms around him and embraced him with a hug. Claire had come to the conclusion that she was right about that odd feeling she gets when with Joey. She knew she was safe and comfortable with the younger Kennedy by her side. After the two had their moment, they got up and entered the building where greater terror awaited them. As they entered through the double doors, they immediately felt the ominous feeling in the air as it was empty, quiet and creepy. The two made their way up the flight of stairs reaching a small intersection. "Hey Claire. Look at this!" Joey called Claire over to a rather large painting of a blond young woman. There was a plaque under it. Joey read it. "Alexia Ashford. This is Alfred's sister. Born 1977 and died...1983? That's 15 years ago. She was real young." "It's such a shame really. But I wonder if they were just as nutty as Alfred is." Joey was surprised and cracked up laughing at Claire's comment. "For shame, . Speaking ill of the dead like that! But it is probably true." Both survivors had again shared a nice moment of laughter. After that, they had walked right into a dark and barely lit office. There was tea that looked recently made on the table in front of them along with a large music box against the wall to the left. Joey and Claire investigated the music box and accidentally turned it on. A creepy melody tune played as the notes disc spin to the end. When it finished, the music box moved and revealed a secret passage. "These nut jobs and their complicated puzzles. I cannot wait to get outta here." "I second that." Claire said along to Joey's comment. When Joey stepped one foot in, glass can be heard shattered behind them. They turned around and noticed the same creature that attacked Claire before. The Bandersnatch. "Ahh you freaks want round 2? Fine by me!" Joey and Claire shot the creature to pieces as it finally fell to the ground. They kept moving on as they felt more would arrive soon. They crossed a bridge and shot every zombie standing between them. As they made it across, things would get more weird as they arrived to an unnerving castle like structure, no doubt belonging to Alfred.

"Great, more creepy ass houses. When will this ever end?" Joey said with disgust as he and Claire ascended up the staircase lying in front of the double doors leading to the nightmare awaiting inside for them. They opened the doors to the castle-like structure and were already face to face with an abnormality. It was however in the form of an abnormally large doll stringed to the ceiling by its limbs. "Well….this is perfectly normal. Nothing wrong with this at all." Joey said sarcastically as he observed the doll from top to bottom. "Ugh, Somebody should fire their interior decorator." Joey smirked at Claire's remark and agreed. "I would not be surprised if the Ashfords did this themselves. Come on, only way to go is up." Joey and Claire proceeded upstairs to the top floor and entered a long corridor. "Be focused, little brother. Our enemies are only a little boy and a little girl. Why is this taking so long?" The sudden voice of a woman in a near by room caused Joey and Claire to duck out of sight and creep up near the window and eavesdrop. "My apologies, Alexia. But I have been doing my best." That was the voice of Alfred but what caught the two survivor's attention was the name of the woman he was speaking to. It was his sister, Alexia. "Alexia? She's alive?" Joey said quietly confused. "The revival of the Ashford family depends on your success, brother." "I am aware of that, Alexia. I will revive the family name myself and make you the master of the glorious Ashford family. "Do not worry, brother. I will handle them both myself!" Claire was eager to hear more as she peeked toward the window more but stopped as Alexia may have spotted her. "Who is there? Is someone in the corridor?" Joey grabbed Claire by her arm and ran down the corridor to hide. Alexia peeked outside and saw no one. Joey and Claire were safely hidden around the corner with the younger Kennedy holding Claire close to him in one arm while he had his gun out in the other, ready to fire. "What is it, Alexia?" Alfred asked. "Nothing. I believe I was just imagining things. Let us go brother." That was the last thing Alexia said as her footsteps along with Alfred's started and continued until they faded away. "Phew that was close." Joey said with relief. "I think it's safe now." "Yeah, I think so too...um..Joey?" Joey looked back at Claire and realized the moment of him holding her close to him. He let her go and stuttered for words as Claire looked at him with a smile while blushing red. "Oh man….I'm sorry." "What for?" Joey was a little surprised by Claire's response. It was as if she was comfortable being that close to him for that long. Joey shook out of it and came up with a plan to take the Ashfords by surprise which Claire agreed to it. They proceded down the hall to the door which they assumed the Ashfords were still in there. Joey kicked the door in and charged through to encounter quite a surprise.

The bedroom, presumably belonging to one of the Ashford siblings was empty. Joey and Claire were shocked and confused. There was no other doorway to exit through. "What the...how did they get out?" Joey questioned. He and Claire decided to investigate the room for clues. Claire stumbled upon a music box in the room and accidently turned it on. It was playing that tune the Ashfords are so fond of. When it stopped, the roof above the bed collapsed and a ladder was revealed. "Looks like it goes up to an attic." As Joey was about to climb up first, the door behind them opened. Claire had her gun aimed high and was aiming at Steve. "Steve? Don't scare us like that!" Steve slowly lowered Claire's gun out of his face as he replied. "Sorry guys. I didn't even know you'd be here. Anything new?" Joey jumped down from the ladder and joined the two fellow survivors. "We just found out Alexia Ashford is still alive and was just here with Alfred." Steve had a shocked look on his face. "She's alive? How? Then again with this family, I'm not too surprised." It was a good point. Alot of crazy things have been happening so far so this wouldn't really be something odd. "Hey Steve, can I talk to you outside for a second? Excuse us Claire." Joey and Steve stepped out into the hall and walked for a bit. "What's up Joey?" "I just want to know if you're all right. I mean, I know what happened was real tough on you and I'm sorry and I understand. But I just want to know if you're good." Despite not being too fond of Steve, he understood his pain and wanted to know if his head was on right. "I appreciate the concern, Joey. Really, I do. But there is nothing to worry about. I am fine, ready for action and to get off of this island." Joey thought Steve was really good to go and was relieved to hear him say so. They finally shook hands to solidify they were on the same page. Meanwhile, Claire decided to investigate the newly revealed attic by herself. She was taken back by the presence of a carousel ride in an attic. It was weird but then again, this was all of the Ashford's doing. Claire came to a desk and discovered a pile of papers and a rather important item under the pile. It was a blue key with the Ashford logo on it. "This looks important. I better take it with me." Claire said. With the key in hand, she made her way back to Joey and Steve. Before she could open the bedroom door to leave, she was stopped. "Claire Redfield, hold it right there!" Claire turned around and saw Alexia Ashford herself aiming Alfred's sniper rifle at her. "We meet each other at last! Pity I must say goodbye so soon." Alexia was slowly making her way toward Claire with her rifle aimed high. "I am Alexia Ashford. For the pride of the Ashford family, I will kill you!" Claire's eyes widened in fear as she felt she would die if she didn't move. The young Redfield rolled out of the way of Alexia's first shot. Claire rolled into a dead end and her feeling of death grew more than before. She only hoped that Joey and Steve heard the gunshot and made their way back. Alexia reloaded her rifle and was ready to finish the job as she drew near Claire more. As Alexia was about to fire at the helpless Redfield, the bedroom door was kicked in and Joey and Steve made the save. "Freeze! Drop the gun, Alexia!" Joey demanded with his magnum aimed high with Steve doing the same with his Uzis. Alexia switched targets and fired at the heroic duo. Joey dodged but Steve got grazed on the shoulder. Joey fired 3 rounds at Alexia and grazed her as well. She screamed in pain and left through a secret door. "Steve!" Joey turned to face Steve as he was holding his shoulder with Claire checking on him. "You alright, kid?" Joey asked. "Yeah, it's just a scratch. Come on! She went through that secret door!" Joey and Claire looked at each other with wonder but shook it off and pursued Alexia.

The statue in the wall also known as the secret door opened with Joey rolling in and taking aim to find Alexia. Claire and Steve followed behind to fill the other bedroom they were in. They investigated the room to see if Alexia had left or was still in the room. A strange item on the music box caught Claire's attention and prompted her to call Joey over to see for himself. "Joey...is this what I think...?" Before Claire could finish talking, a startling scream was heard right behind them. Alfred appeared and was lunging to attack Claire. Joey pulled Claire out of harm's way and fought with the crazed Ashford. Joey was able to stagger Alfred and when given the chance, landed a devastating right hook across his face and sent him crumbling back into a wall. Joey and Steve aimed their guns at Alfred and was itching to pull the trigger. But they couldn't do it as they witness perhaps the weirdest thing they've seen yet. Alfred looked like he was wearing make-up. Alfred slowly got up and looked at a mirror behind him and acted as if he was horrified by how he looked and ran out of the room, leaving the normal trio at a loss for words. Joey was the first out of the three to speak. "What the hell just happened?" Claire looked back at the item she saw earlier on the music box which was a blonde wig covered in blood. She showed the bloody wig to the boys. "He was playing two roles all by himself. He couldn't bear the fact that his sister was dead." Claire's educated guess gave Joey and Steve chills down their spine. "I can't believe I'm saying this but...I actually feel bad for the guy." Joey had a grim look on his face, but that face turned to curiousness when he saw the key in Claire's hand. "Hey, what's the key for?" Joey asked. "I don't know. I found it up in the attic. I wonder what's for." "I guess we'll find out when we reach the airport." Steve's plan to go to the airport brought tons of joy and relief to Joey. The plan of escape was near and the trio was ready to leave. "The self-destruct system has been activated! All facilities across the island will be terminated. Please evacuate the premises immediately." That female automated voice was never good to hear. Alfred had activated the self-destruct system to blow up the island along with the three young survivors. "I think that is our cue to get the hell out of here!" Joey walked ahead to lead the group out of the castle. When they reached the main hall of the castle, it was filled with zombies. "Shoot first, ask questions later!" Joey suggested as he fired rounds into the group of undead. Claire and Steve did the same and was able to escape into the main building. Their chance of escape was waiting outside the large double doors, but so was something else.


	4. Escape?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Progress is made, love is formed and the door to escape is near for the three survivors; but fate decided that only two can leave death's cold embrace.

Joey, Claire and Steve barged out of the building and stood on top of the stairs watching to see if enemies were near. Steve took the lead. "The airport is this way to the right! Let's go!" Steve walked down the stairs but jumped back up from almost getting hit. Suddenly, a tall, rocky-like Tyrant made its presence felt, terrifying the three survivors stiff. The creature was very similar to the T-103 from Raccoon City. Only Joey caught the resemblance. "Well, aren't you a familiar face!" It didn't take Claire long to catch on to the resemblance. "Oh my god! Joey, is that…?" Claire wondered if that was the same beast that haunted them in Raccoon. Joey shut that thought down. "No, it's not. We killed that one. This is much more pissed off….and naked." The tyrant grew agitated and continued the attack on the trio. Joey, Claire and Steve all aimed for the head of the beast with hopes of stopping it. They were able to stagger it as it dropped to one knee. "RUN!" Claire screamed and made her way with the guys to get to the airport. As they almost made it to the gate, the tyrant jumped high and landed in their way. It was not going to give up that easy. "Damn, he ain't letting us go without a fight." Joey said. "Well that's exactly what we're gonna give him." Claire said as she continued firing at the creature's head. The group was on their last round but the one from Joey's magnum was enough to finally put down the creature. It struggled for balance but finally fell flat on its face. "I don't like this. That was too easy!" Joey said with relief but also wonder. Claire agreed with him. "Yeah. Let's not keep our guard down. We have to go now!" The trio proceeded through the gate and into a submarine that would take them down into an underground airport. They made it into a large area with large doors and control panels laid. The large plane stood right in front of them and ready for take off. "This is our chance to escape! Let's go!" Steve ran down to enter the plane but Joey and Claire stood still with bad wonders. "Claire, I don't like this." "I know. Something is wrong here." They had a mutual feeling of uncertainty. Why would Alfred have this here for them to escape? There was a catch as there always is one. "Hey! There's no time to daydream! Let's go!" Steve managed to get Joey and Claire's attention and they finally joined Steve in the plane. The inside of the plane was rather smaller than it appeared from outside but it didn't change it was the trio's way out. Steve had some knowledge of how to work a plane so he was able to get it started and moving. "Ok, here goes nothing." Steve got good enough space to take off. He raised the lever and slowly, the plane elevated and took off into the air while the island behind them blew up into smithereens .

"Holy shit! We made it! Joey jumped for joy as he celebrated along with Steve and Claire. "Freedom is an amazing feeling!" Joey continued to celebrate as Steve and Claire were laughing up at Joey's silliness but no doubt they were happy as well to be out. Steve was too distracted that he almost lost control of the plane. The plane turned a bit and caused Joey and Claire to lose their balance. Steve regained control of the plane and Joey was on the floor back first when he caught Claire from falling. That feeling that occurred in the castle had returned to Claire, but this time Joey felt it too. It was no secret to either now that they felt something for each other, a true connection as they stared into each other's eyes. Joey cares about Claire and Claire cares about Joey. It was only a matter of time before they reveal their true feelings to each other. Claire got up and sat next to Joey. "You know, I'm really wondering if you get tired of saving me all the time." Joey laughed as he sat up next to Claire. "Not really. It's kinda fun really." "Oh? How so?" "Well I get to spit in the face of evil. Mostly I get to help and protect you and be by your side. Kind of a win/win situation for me." Claire laughed at Joey's cute response and knew he meant every word. After the laugh died down, Joey thought it was the perfect time to talk normally. "So I never got to ask this but I've been very curious. What is Chris like?" The subject brought Claire's smile a down little but she knew Joey meant well and wanted to know more about him. "Chris is what you would expect out of an older brother. Protective, stern, a bit of an hard ass. But I honestly am glad to have him as my brother. Me and him get along so well. I know he'd do anything for me." Joey was touched to hear the story of Chris. He seemed like the all around hero type and idol figure. "He sounds like a great guy. Hell, he's related to you so I'm sure he's also awesome." Claire cracked up laughing with Joey joining her. They were obviously having a nice time acting normally away from danger. This moment showed that these two would quickly hit it off if they had met under normal circumstances...or would they? After the laughing died down, they returned to smiling and staring at each other. Both youngins lost their smile and turned to wonder as something weird was happening. Their faces were very slowly moving towards each other. Their eyes slowly closed and their lips were almost close to contact. But before they made contact, the plane rattled and knocked the two lovebirds off balance with Steve struggling for control of the plane. A red siren went off in the plane. Something was seriously wrong. Joey helped Claire up and sat next Steve. "What was that all about?" Joey asked. "I don't know. What the...it says the cargo hatch is open." Claire stepped up and volunteered to check it out. "I'll go back and check it out." "Thanks. I'll unlock the cargo door for you." Steve flipped the switch and the door behind them unlocked. "I'll go with you." Joey said to Claire as he got up. "Oh no, it's fine. I got this." "You sure?" Claire saw Joey had a bit of a concerned look on his face but she nodded with a smile to reassure Joey she got this. "OK, be careful." Joey said as Claire opened the cargo door to check out the source of the disturbance.

There was no clear sign of whatever was causing the disturbance. Claire observed the cargo hold thoroughly and finally noticed the source of the disturbance and it was in the form of the tyrant that attacked the group earlier. It was no surprise to Claire as she figured he went down too easy."I knew you were playing dead! Time to make sure you stay down!" Claire loaded up her pistol and aimed high at the creature, and fired, perhaps as one would expect, but a massive beast such as this one maintained it's advance, swinging it's enormous fists. Claire managed to dodge by the skin of her teeth and knew guns were not gonna do much for this creature. She looked around and noticed a catapult system on the plane and noticed the launch panel. She dashed for it and pressed the red button to launch a group of metal boxes toward the tyrant and smacked it toward the open cargo door. The creature came close to getting knocked off but was still strong enough to hold its own and knock the box back into place, rattling the plane. Joey and Steve were taken by surprise and wondering what the fuss was about. "What the hell was that?" Joey said as he got up, locked and loaded. "I'm going back there." Steve stopped Joey before he went trigger happy. "Don't worry about it. It's probably nothing. "How are you so sure? If the plane rattled, it's probably something big." Joey arched an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "You're new to the whole Umbrella resistance thing aren't you?" Steve grit his teeth, "Look man, there is no need to talk down to me…" Steve said defensively. Joey was disgusted by Steve's ignorance. "Look Steve, you don't know what me and Claire have been through, ok? If you seen the shit we've seen and known the crap we know, you would understand why I feel how I feel. Since you do not know what I went through with Claire, don't you dare tell me what I need to and don't need to worry about, alright?!" Joey was doing more than talking down at Steve. Steve was clearly angry but he knew damn well Joey had great points. He does not know what they went through in the past. He just should've kept his mouth shut. Joey sat down to relax after telling off Steve. but he still couldn't help think about Claire. He did trust her to take care of stuff but still prayed she was all right.

Back in the cargo hold, Claire was not doing so well. She had gotten thrown across wall to wall while waiting for the catapult to recharge. She had coughed up blood already and was in a very weakened state but so was the Tyrant. It was bleeding profusely in the chest from Claire's shots. Claire was crawling on the floor struggling to get up. She looked away from the floor due to the sound she had been waiting for. The sound signifying that the catapult was ready to fire. Claire immediately got up with all of her leftover strength and limped toward the panel. The Tyrant noticed Claire and tried to get up to stop her. Claire made it to the panel and looked back at the Tyrant. "You lose, big guy." Claire pressed the button and the catapult launched again. The Tyrant got smacked down and finally went out of the plane, followed by a huge explosion. The boxes must've been filled with explosives. Claire was relieved and made it back into the cockpit where Joey and Steve awaited. Claire leaned on the door relieved to be alive after that fight. Her attention was drawn to Joey's sudden outburst. "Ok, I can't take this. I gotta see if Claire's ok. You sit down and shut up." Joey cocked his and headed toward the cargo, but had no reason to now as Claire was already back. "Oh...hey. You're back." Joey was taken by surprise with Claire smiling at Joey. "Aww, was somebody worried about me?" Claire had that teasing tone as she was messing with Joey, but he played along. "Yeah, I was actually. You ok?" "Yeah, just had to deal with a giant cockroach that had to be stepped on." Joey smirked at Claire's smartass reply but he was convinced everything was cool until he noticed Claire's limping. "Alright, sit down here, now." Claire's face cringed when Joey noticed the limp. She should've expected he would figure out that something was up. The young Redfield obeyed and sat down on the floor while Joey sat next to her and examined her. "Limping, holding your arm that is cut, coughed up blood?! Claire, what happened back there? That had to be some cockroach to do this damage." Joey had it figured out. There was no point in hiding so she came clean. "Ok, brother of a cop. The Tyrant from before got in and gave me a number. But I killed him." Joey was a little taken back. He knew she was capable of killing the creature but should've done the right thing by calling for help. "I knew that thing was playing dirty! Claire, while I know you're capable of dealing with those big bastards, you should've called me for help." "I had it all under control. I didn't want to worry you!" Claire said. "I'm aware of that Claire but I still was worried why you took long and look at you. You're hurt pretty bad here." Joey was explaining the feeling of worry he had while he patched up Claire. Claire shook Joey off and said something that truly shocked him. "I understand where you're coming from , Joey. I do but believe me it was better me receiving the damage." Joey was surprised to hear Claire say she'd rather be hurt than him. Curious, he asked why. "I….I couldn't imagine seeing that happen to you if you were there. I care about you, Joey. I do a lot." Claire went from serious to saddened and tearful real quick. "I don't want to lose you." Claire was now in tears as she admitted to caring about Joey. The thought of losing him would truly tear Claire apart and from what Joey was seeing, Claire doesn't want that to happen. The feelings were quite mutual but Joey didn't know how to say it back right away. All Joey could do was bring Claire in close and comfort her.

Steve watched the spectacle with an indiscernible expression, and then turned away as he was jerked sideways by the handles. He had lost control of the plane and a new alert sound was being made. Joey and Claire popped up and returned to Steve's side. "What happened now?" Joey asked. "I don't know. The plane just changed direction on it's own." Steve observed a yellow blinking light. "It's flying on autopilot mode! I can't set it back to manual control!" A monitor above Steve suddenly turned on and focused in on none other than Alfred Ashford, who still had make-up on and a feminine voice. "My apologies. But I cannot let you escape now. Muhahaha!" "Alfred! You cross-dressing freak!" With that insult from Claire, the monitor turned off and Alfred disappeared. They gang didn't know what to do. They had no control over the plane and where they are heading is a had no choice but to wait and see what was next. To kill time, it seemed like a great idea to finally rest after the hell they have been through, especially Claire after the fight with the Tyrant. Steve chose to stay sitting at the pilot seat to prepare for any surprises. Joey decided to sit on the ground behind the seats and rest against the plane wall. Claire decided to join Joey and rest her head on his shoulder. Joey of course had no problem with it and decided to rest his head on hers. While they laid comfortably next to each other, they still had to prepare of what Ashford had in his box of tricks. What would come next is a mystery. Only time will tell.

Meanwhile back in the U.S, Leon used the information Umbrella had on Chris to find him. He was thoroughly searching through files and information to get to Chris in time so he can be sure Joey and Claire can make it back in one piece. Leon's eyes lit up and finally came across a track on Chris. He looked to be located in an isolated cabin in Europe. Leon was able to contact Chris via a private live chat. Leon typed first and hoped Chris would respond. "Is this Chris Redfield? This is Leon Kennedy. I have an urgent message from Claire." Leon waited for Chris to reply. He had hoped he'd be willing to listen and think it was an Umbrella employee using Claire to get to Chris. To Leon's small surprise, Chris replied. "Ahh the rookie. How do you know Claire? What's wrong?" "Thank god you answered. I met Claire when Raccoon City went to hell. She emailed me a couple hours ago telling me Umbrella is monitoring you." "Tell me something I don't know." "Claire has been looking for you. She went to the Umbrella HQ in Europe and got captured and sent to Rockfort Island. She's there now and an outbreak occurred. She's surrounded by Zombies and needs you, Chris." Leon forwarded Claire's email to Chris to read it. "Ah hell. I should've figured she'd go looking for me. Thank you for the help, Leon. I'll head out there now." Leon was relieved to tell Chris about Claire, but there was another concern still. "Wait, Chris. I need you to also look out for my little brother, Joey. He was with us in Raccoon but went after Claire after I told him about her email. I'll send you a picture." Leon remembered he had a picture of Joey in his PC in case of emergencies like this. He sent Chris the picture so he can identify Joey. Chris replied. "Got it. I'll keep a look out for him. Thanks again, Leon." WIth that, Chris disconnected from the chat and went to go save his sister and Joey. Leon was happy he was able to contact Chris and tell him about their siblings. While he was happy, he still could not help but wonder how Joey and Claire were doing themselves. He did figure with Joey there, Claire would be in good hands.

Back on the plane hovering over the cloud covered skies, Steve, Joey and Claire were as they were before. Steve was sleeping in the pilot's chair and Joey and Claire were sleeping with their heads together. Steve was the first to wake up and check on the situation. He examined the altitude meter and was surprised with what he discovered. "Latitude: 82.17 degrees?" Steve's wondering woke up Joey and Claire, bringing them to be curious as well. "Holy shit! We're over the antarctic!" Steve's realization shocked both Joey and Claire, causing them to speak at the same time. "What?!" Claire sat in the chair next to Steve with Joey behind them while the three observed their surroundings. Claire noticed something interesting on her side. "Those are the planes that left the island right before us!" "Then that must mean….this place belongs to Umbrella!" Steve's great guess brought disgust to Joey. Another place that belongs to Umbrella is the last thing they need right now. As the skies cleared up, the group realized the plane was already almost on the ground heading toward an observation tower. Joey was the quickest to react. "Oh shit! Brace yourselves!" There were no seatbelts so Claire and Steve had to get up to take cover. Before they could make a move, the plane had already hit the ground and crashed toward the tower, sending the survivors off balance and on the ground. They laid unconscious temporarily but they were lucky the plane didn't drag on any further as they almost hovered over a deep hole within the tower. After a few minutes, Claire was the first of the three to awake. Joey was the first person she noticed and crawled by his side"Hey, wake up Joey." In Joey's mind, he was imagining he was sleeping on a big bed in his house. Hearing Claire's angelic voice was soothing to Joey and probably to him was the best thing to wake up to. As Joey awoke, he unfortunately returned to the dark reality of waking up in the trashed plane. At least Claire was there by his side. "Ugh..my head is ringing!" Joey got up on his knees holding his head. "Claire?...what happened?" "We crashed into the tower and got knocked out." "Oh man...at least we're alive. Go check on Steve, can you? I'll get the door open here." Claire went to check on Steve while Joey opened the door and kicked down the steps which fell off into the pit of darkness. Joey jumped down to examine the area. It was cold, quiet but clear. Claire emerged at the doorway and looked nervous about the jump. "Don't worry, I'll catch you." Joey reassured. Claire carefully jumped down and landed but lost balance and fell into Joey's arms, sending him down too. They were in the same situation as on the plane with Joey catching Claire with him on the ground and her on top. That comfortable close feeling they shared had returned. Claire got up and held her hand out to Joey. "Nice catch, Stud. Thanks." Joey grabbed Claire's hand and got pulled to his feet by Claire. Steve stood standing tightlipped as he observed another touching moment between the two lovebirds. "Any year now kiddo!" Joey got Steve's attention with that. He finally jumped down and joined the group. Claire and Steve observed the area while Joey check out the plane. "Well, this plane ain't going anywhere. This place is pretty a big ass freezer and we have to get out or else we'll freeze to death. Now, as much as I personally hate the idea; we'll have to split up and find a way out of here." Claire and Steve agreed to the plan and headed off on their own. It was now once again a race against time to escape.

While agreeing to head off on their own, Claire waited till Steve was gone to follow Joey. The strong connection they had formed helped Claire feel she would rather be by Joey's side. As she had Joey in her sights, she skipped up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "I hope you don't mind I tag along." Joey was again surprised and also not surprised. Looking down at the beautiful redhead, how could he say no? "No, not at all. Let's go." Joey and Claire walked off together down a pair of stairs into a dark and not so quiet hallway. As they stepped forward more, a sudden disgusting sound can be heard haunting the halls. "Ugh, what the hell is that noise?" As they turned the corner, Joey regretted asking and witnessed a horrific sight. One that would cause Claire to almost throw up. The horrific sight was of a hall full of bodies and eggs encased in cocoons. "I think I'm gonna be sick." Claire said as she retreated and acted like she really was going to puke. Joey had his gun up and backed up from the hall. "Claire, as much as I don't blame you for being sick, we got a big problem here." Claire looked down the hall and understood what Joey meant. There were a pack of giant moths flying their way. "Oh my god!" Claire and Joey backed up and fired their pistols at the pack with hope to kill them all. Bullets were flying and blood was splattered, but the two managed to be rid of the oversized moths unharmed. "That so bad." Joey said. Claire agreed. "Yeah, let's keep going." Joey and Claire kept moving down the dark cold halls of the facility and to their surprise, came across a normal looking office. It was odd that there was such a room in this place, but it seemed like the perfect time for a quick rest.  
"I don't trust this room. But it's a nice break from out there." Claire agreed with Joey's suspicion of the room but it was indeed better than being in the halls with the moths and wrapped up bodies. Joey decided to investigate the bookshelf while Claire attended to a computer she noticed on the desk in front of her. She turned it on to see if there were files to aid them in their escape. While she had no luck, Joey did. Not with the books, but of his sightings. Joey turned around to face Claire who was on the computer bent over, he could not help but notice her rather "intriguing" figure. Joey could not help himself but be almost in a hypnotized state while admiring her shapely figure. This did not go unnoticed by Claire, who caught Joey starring in the reflection of the monitor, when she turned around, he quickly turned towards the bookshelf, feigning an acute interest in a book he had randomly pulled off the shelf. Claire chuckled. "Men, the more things change, the more they stay the same."  
Joey arched an eyebrow. "And what exactly do you mean by that, Miss Redfield? Last time I checked, it was not a crime to admire the "gems" in society." Claire laughed out loud at this. "Well, that's one way to put it, Mr. Kennedy, I remember Leon dignifying himself the same way once before you and I become an "item", so to speak." Joey chuckled. "That's my older brother for you, maybe he was just trying to take his mind off things that night." Claire turned her head, "Meaning?" "Part of the reason he was nearly late for his job was because he had recently broken up with girlfriend, and got completely and utterly hammered to numb the pain." Claire sighed. "So that's what the deal was, well, I'm glad he's got Jill by his side."

Before Joey could agree, his attention was diverted to an abnormal voice coming from behind the bookcase. "What the hell was that?" Joey checked out the bookcase and noticed a button on the top of the shelf. He pushed it and in result, the bookcase slid back and revealed a secret passageway. As Joey peeked his head out, the monstrous sound got louder and nearer. He retreated and looked at Claire. "There's something in there alright. Doesn't sound friendly like everything else here." "What do you think we should do?" Claire asked. Joey had two ideas in mind. One being to leave it be while the other is to check it out. Joey choose the idea he liked the least. "Maybe...we should go check it out." Claire was surely surprised by the decision. "What?!" "Just to see what we're up against, you know?" Claire was hesitant at first but thought it was best to know what they are up against. "OK, you're right." "Alright, let's go. You got nothing to worry about. I'll be right here by your side." Joey's assurance brought a smile to Claire's face. "Yeah, my guardian angel, right?" "Right!" Joey and Claire followed the hall into an empty small room. "There's nothing here?" Claire wondered. "Uhh...not exactly." Claire saw Joey looking down to the ground which was actually a steel mesh floor. They could see into the room below them which was the home to a humanoid like B.O.W. "Oh my…!" Claire could not believe what she saw, neither could Joey. "It looks like it's tied up. He won't be a problem. Let's go." The sight of the creature was enough to send shivers down your spine. No doubt the two survivors had seen enough and wanted to move on. Joey and Claire returned the room with Joey pushing the bookcase back into it's original place. "Better safe than sorry." "Hey Joey, look at this!" Claire had found a picture on the desk they must've missed before. It showed one man and two children. There was a name on the plaque. "Alexander Ashford...that must be Alfred and Alexia's father" "Uhh...Claire? I just had a weird thought. You don't think that thing is their dad, do you?" Claire held her stomach in disgust of the thought. Would they really be that low to experiment on their own father? "I don't even want to think about that." Joey agreed and refrained from continuing on the topic. "Right, sorry. Let's get going." Joey and Claire exited the office back into the rotten, moth-infested hallway where more moths came out to attack. They failed as Joey and Claire dropped them with ease. They continued their way into a room where a conveyor belt machine laid in the middle of it. There was a balcony above them which for some reason brought Joey back to the police station in Raccoon. Only more cold, dark and probably more dangerous. As the two made it around the machine and near a pair of steps leading to a door, a sound of boxes dropping can be heard loud and clear and close by. "Now what?" Claire said furiously. From a far, a zombie is seen walking from a corner aimlessly. "Huh, one zombie?" Joey said with wonder. But the real surprise came when the zombie was suddenly decapitated by a hopping creature. It came face to face with Joey and Claire with it's razor sharp claws and intimidating heavy breathing. As it creeped up toward the two survivors, it could be seen better as a Hunter with reddish skin. "Oh god...not them again!" Claire and Joey immediately recognized the hunter as the creature they fought in Raccoon City. Claire was not too comfortable being in the same room as the creature that almost killed her in the diner. "You're not getting me this time!" As Claire said this, she fired many rounds into the creature. She was able to weaken the creature to the point where it was on the floor in a pool of its own blood squirming around. Joey walked up and put the creature out of its misery and focused on Claire. "You alright?" Claire took a deep breath and nodded her head. The two proceeded up the small stairs and through the door which led outside. "Oh god, it's so cold out here." Claire said. It was a weird area to be in. There was a metal balcony above them but there was also a hole in front of them. Where it went was a mystery not meant to be discovered. Joey and Claire got startled when the doors to their left opened. They had their guns aimed high but once again, the poor soul was yet again Steve.

"Son of a bitch, really? Every damn time…"The young man shook his head. "Christ, this kid is hopeless." Joey shook his head. "I heard that dammit!" Steve snapped, which prompted Claire to chuckle. Joey smiled at this, if Claire was happy, that was all he needed. He went over to Steve, "Take it easy, big guy. We'll toughen you up." The group moved forward, until they heard a familiar cackle. "Alfred!" Where he was in the wide room was a mystery, as he didn't seem to want to stay still. "Come on out, you bastard!" Steve was getting really tired of this mess with Alfred. "It will soon be time for the Queen's awakening…" The madman's voice echoed throughout the area as the massive construction implement sailed towards them. "Holy shit!" Joey said as the group nearly dodged it. "Queen's awakening?" What kind of garbage are you spouting now?" Claire demanded. "How dare you! No matter, in any case, you're near the end of my maze, this is your final test."Steve went up the stairs, and saw Alfred's red jacket. "There you are!" He fired a few quick shots, which he knew at least a few of em hit Alfred. "Guy's, we ought to split up, it'll be easier!" Joey smiled. "Now you're making sense." "Claire to your left!" Steve shouted, the massive thing narrowly colliding with Claire. Alfred then poked his up over a fence, "Got you!" Claire aimed her Browning High Power and fired. Alfred grit his teeth and reloaded his sniper rifle. He laughed, "I'll see the Queen very soon!" Joey spoke up, "Claire! Shoot the crane!" Claire noticed the crane above Alfred. It looked like a perfect chance to end this once and for all. While it was clear, Claire got out of cover to get a better aim at the crane. Claire was about to fire, but all of sudden, her gun was shot out of her hand by Alfred. Claire was a sitting duck. She was out of cover and in serious danger. "Now I've got you where I want you!" Alfred said as he slowly walked up a couple steps. He pulled out a silver sniper round and loaded it. "I've been saving this bullet just for you." Alfred took aim at Claire and was about to fire with an evil smirk on his face. "NOOOOOO!" Joey jumped up out of cover and ran toward Claire. Alfred had pulled the trigger already and the bullet was speeding toward Claire but would not hit her. Joey had pushed Claire out of the way and faced Alfred. "Gasp!" After Joey gasped, everything went silent. The gunshot still echoed in the area. The only sort of motion next was Joey clutching at his chest. His shirt is covered in blood and it was where the hole in his shirt was. Joey had been shot. Claire was still on the floor but looked back at what was going on. She saw Joey still clutching his chest but fell back into the wall, sliding down to the ground. She was overtaken with the feeling of numb disbelief and went over to Joey. "D-don't you die on me!" She half shouted, Joey gripped her hand. "Ahaha!" Alfred was laughing maniacally as he reloaded his rifle. "Not the result I wanted but one down, one to go." Alfred had his rifle aimed at Claire again but Alfred did not expect Joey to pop up with his last bit of strength and fill the crazed man in red with bullets of his own. The struggle caused both men to fall off the balcony. Joey landed on the ground while Alfred fell into the dark deep hole. That was the last of Alfred Ashford. Claire and Steve immediately ran down to be by Joey's side. Claire was next to Joey while Steve checked out the hole Alfred fell in. Joey faintly spoke as he wiped the tears off of Claire's face. "Claire, it's gonna be ok. Steve...I have something to say to you, so listen. You better take good care of my Claire, or else I will torment you beyond the grave, even still, you remind me of my older brother, when he was younger." With the last bit bit of his strength, Joey pulled Claire into a kiss, where Steve remained silent, eyes trained on the ground. As he looked back up, Joey's head was slanted over. He was dead and Claire was still holding his hand with her head to his and let out the tears of a broken heart.

Steve wanted to cry as well, but he had to hold it together, for Joey. "Y-you got it, man." Steve tried to put on a crooked smile, but ultimately failed, he placed a hand on Claire's shoulder. "We have to go." Steve said quietly. Claire knew Joey was going to live up to the promise he made on Rockfort, but this was something she was not ready for. Claire was still heartbroken but also anxious, how was she going to explain this to Leon? Claire slowly stood up. "Goodbye Joey…..I love you." With Claire's last words to Joey, she left with Steve to escape. She was very uncomfortable leaving Joey like that, but escaping was something Claire was sure he wanted for her to do. Steve cleared his throat. "You know, this was something my mother told me when I was younger, just because someone is no longer with you physically doesn't mean they are gone, we are the successors of the ones who lived in the past." Claire was able to grow a smile but for only a short time. Steve continued his speech. "Joey is still with us, Claire. With you of course. Right here." Steve pointed to an area on Claire's chest where her heart is. Claire put her hand to her still broken heart but Steve had a great point. "T-thank you Steve...You're right about what you said. I know Joey will always be with me but..." Claire returned to her state of tearful sadness, preventing her from continuing to speak. Steve placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. Let's just try to focus on getting out here. Ok?" Claire wiped her tears and looked at Steve. She nodded in agreement and somewhat was able regain herself. The duo moved forward, and came out to a catwalk, amidst a blizzard, it didn't take long for Claire and Steve to start shivering.

"Man, it's cold! We can't waste time out here." Steve was quick to point out. Things were about to go from bad to worse in light of the current situation, a monstrous howling reached the duo's ears as they made it to the bottom of the ladder, surrounding by knee high snow banks…"Alexander." Claire muttered. Steve turned to her. "Who?" Claire cleared her throat while remaining on the move so as to avoid being struck down by the beast. "Alexia and Alfred Ashford used their father as an experiment for the T-Veronica Virus, to see if he could coexist with it, as we can see now, that did not quite go according to plan, and so he was sealed here. I'm still not quite sure of all the things he can do, so it's best we remain cautious while we fight him." Steve nodded in the affirmative, despite having little to no use of his arms and legs, the man once known as Alexander Ashford was surprisingly swift, thankfully, Claire had a rather trained eye due to her time in Raccoon City, and Chris' training prior to that, Steve however, had to work a bit harder, especially with the intermittent white outs resultant of the strong winds. The monster didn't want to seem to stay and subsequently, this made it rather hard for the two to draw a bead upon the creature. The creature seemed to be an easy target but then surprised the hell out of Steve and Claire by growing long tentacles out of his back and was able to attack with them. "Whoa there, Doctor Octopus! I don't roll that way, so calm down!" Steve quipped. Claire snickered at Steve's remark but returned focus on the creature. Claire noticed the exposed heart of Alexander. "Steve! Look at his chest! That's his weak spot!" "You sure?" Steve asked. "Not much of a choice. Just shoot!" Claire and Steve loaded round after round into the chest of Alexander. Some made it directly while some did not. "Shit! I'm out!" Steve shouted. Claire checked her gun and pockets for ammo. "Me too! Now what!" The monster had already leaned over in a weakened state but was still a threat to the young survivors. Claire remembered the knife Chris had given her long ago. She pulled it out and had a terrible idea. One that she had no choice but to do. Claire flipped the knife around and ran toward the weakened Alexander. "Claire, what are you doing?!" Steve shouted. Claire got close and kicked the creature down to the ground and stood over it. "I've got you now!" Claire raised her knife and thrusted the knife into the heart of the monster. Alexander let out a deafening roar that rattled Claire but she still stood tall. The monster now laid motionless in a puddle of his own blood. Alexander Ashford was no more. Claire backed away with her bloody knife and looked at Steve. "I think he's dead." Steve nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's ok now. But that was dangerous getting close to him like that. He could've hurt you." Claire looked down away from Steve. She knew he was right and she should've known better. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just really want to get out of this place and be down with all the zombies and monsters." Claire and Steve made their way out through the blizzard but Steve couldn't help but feel sorry for Claire. It was odd for her to just jump into danger like that, but it was obvious she was still in pain from losing Joey. Steve could not blame her at all. She had lost her loved one and was still lost in result. He had to keep up on his promise to Joey that he'll get her out of this place alive and well.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the antarctic base, Alfred was limping into the same office Claire and Joey was in and sat down in a chair. "Forgive me, Alexia. I thought I could finish them alone. That cursed boy...even though he is dead, he still thwarted our plans." Alfred was bleeding a lot from the shots Joey filled him up with, but somehow he still was talking trash. But not for too long. Alfred picked up a snow globe with a dragonfly symbol on the case. "Awaken from your slumber and bring forth the great Veronica!" Alfred pressed the symbol on the snow globe which was actually a button that activated the decorative toy. Alfred slumped over and dropped the globe on the floor. He had finally died. One evil was gone but another would appear right away. There was a dark room below the office Alfred was in with many tubes on the floor coming from one large capsule flooded with water and contained a woman inside. A monitor on the capsule lit up with the words "Code Veronica Activated" on it. The whole room suddenly lit up with machines turning on one after the other. The woman was more visible now and the woman was a mysteriously still young looking Alexia Ashford. She opened her eye wide open and no doubt was ready to continue what her now deceased brother failed to do. Back outside, Claire and Steve found a snowmobile in an open field and ran up to on opposite sides to get in. "Our lucky day. The keys are in it!" Steve pointed out. Before Claire could open the door, she noticed movement behind Steve and was terrified with what she saw. Steve noticed Claire's concerned look and turned around. But before he fully could, he got snatched away by large green tentacles with spikes. "Steve!" Claire was scared stiff until she noticed in the window's reflection that there were now tentacles behind her. She turned around to face them but could not do anything about it. Steve was gone, Joey was dead, Claire was truly helpless. One of tentacles attacked Claire and knocked her out. She laid unconscious in the snow then was dragged away by one of the tentacles. Where Steve and Claire were being taken was a mystery. A mystery that will indeed be unraveled soon with a truly grisly discovery.


	5. Song of Redemption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A once thought lost soul escapes the hands of death at the last minute with the worst outcome yet. With these unfortunte turn of events, will the young soul reborn be reunited with the love of his life or will death find a way to reclaim him once more?

Chris had managed to make it to the Antarctic base, but Claire was nowhere to be seen. "Dammit…" This was only compounded by the fact that Chris had ran into one of the last individuals he had expected to see, one Albert Wesker. Needless to say, the score had not been settled, but to Chris, that was secondary to his little sister. He gritted his teeth, reloaded his gun, and plunged deeper into the research complex. From afar, Wesker was watching Chris through cameras from a surveillance room. Wesker smirked and cracked out his evil laugh. While also stalking Chris, Wesker was examining a video he was playing back. He was watching the area where a deceased Joey Kennedy laid in a pool of his own blood. About 10 seconds in, Joey's body is seen suddenly twitching severely. He looked as though he was being possessed. From another camera, it showed Joey struggling for air and open his eyelids to reveal his abnormal veined white dead eyes. Joey had returned to life. He got on his knees and spoke again. "What the hell?...I'm...alive?...how?" Joey check his shirt and confirmed he was shot but he should've died. He sat there confused until a bad thought came to him. "No…..please tell me I'm not...I gotta get out of here." Wesker clapped his hands and laughed louder than before. "Perfect. The perfect specimen. I look forward to seeing you again, Joseph." As Wesker said this, Joey had left to find answers and Claire. Meanwhile, Chris had made his way into a crane room within the facility. He came across the deformed corpse of Alexander Ashford that Claire and Steve had dealt with. Chris had no idea what or who it was but that did not stop him from being freaked out. "Who could've done this. Before Chris could get closer to the body, he was suddenly held up at gunpoint from behind. "I don't know who you are and I don't care. I am having a really shit day here and I got a girl to find. So if you are thinking of messing with me, Don't!" The individual in question was Joey...he then noticed the letters on the back of the vest of the man whose back his gun was planted into.

"R.P.D?" The man nodded. "Yes, I'm looking for my younger sister! I don't need this shit right now!" Joey lowered his gun. "Wait, you...you're Chris Redfield, right?" Joey wanted to confirm. "That's right. And you are?" Chris turned around. "Joey Kennedy, you were one of my older brother Leon's fellow S.T.A.R.S. members, and I'm in love with Claire." He explained. "Oh wait, Leon told me about you. He asked me to look out for you. And did you just say you're in love with my sister?" Chris had a stern look on his face while Joey became nervous. "Yeah. I met her in Raccoon with Leon and since then, we got along very well and now….I love her." Chris didn't know what to say. He knew he was going to get bombshells dropped on him but this was really out of left field. "I know that's probably the last thing you expected to hear but all aside, we gotta find her." "Well if she trusts you, I guess so can I. Thank you for taking care of her. But here's a question, why are you not with her? And are you alright? You don't look too good." Joey hesitated at the questions. He didn't know how to tell Chris he was killed protecting Claire and now he's back up and walking. Joey had no choice to come clean. He opened his plaid shirt and revealed the source of his pain with his bloody shirt where he was shot. Chris was horrified. "Holy shit. How did that happen?" "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Chris arched up an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "After all the things I've seen and discovered, try me." Joey took a deep breath and explained to the best of his knowledge. "There was this crazy guy named Alfred Ashford. He tried to kill us but specifically kill Claire. There was no way I was gonna let that happen. He had her up at gunpoint and was about to kill her, so…..I pushed her out of the way...and took the bullet. I was basically dead for a while but….I don't know how I'm alive now." Chris took back what he said. That was a lot to deal with. A normal person does not survive a chest shot like that and lose that much blood. There was only one conclusion that Chris could come up with. It was also one that Joey had thought of. "Joey….do you think you're….infected?" Joey was very uncomfortable with the thought of it and it quite frankly scared him. "I...I don't know….I don't want to think I am but it's the only solution that makes sense on how he's alive now. Joey was clearly disturbed and Chris felt sorry for him. He was very young and he had to go through all this hell, just to end up infected. "Hey, I'm sorry Joey. I'm sorry you had to go through all of this. I am very grateful that you would give your life up for my sister. That says you really do care about her. Let's find her and get the hell out of here." Chris went for the door but was stopped by Joey. "Wait, Chris! How in the hell am I gonna explain this to her? I don't want to think of how she'll feel when she sees the man who died protecting her just back on his feet." Joey had a point. How was Claire going to take the news? "Well...we'll figure something out. Let's go." With all that said, Joey and Chris set out to find Claire. It was unfortunate that Joey and Chris met under abnormal circumstances, but they were able to get along and set a common goal for them.

The two newly made allies fought through every zombie and Hunter they came across. During the fights, Joey felt a surge of anger come through and actually fought off zombies and hunters with his bare fists. This came to a shock to Joey and Chris but they knew without a doubt, it was a result of the virus flowing in him. They searched the cold halls of the facility with no luck whatsoever. Joey and Chris arrives into which appeared a garden complete with a fountain. "This certainly is a nice break from out there." Joey remarked. Chris observes the area thoroughly and noticed a large wall with double doors. He and Joey progressed through and came to a shocking sight for Chris. He was now in the main hall of a mansion. A mansion that had a great resemblance to the one he was in a few months ago. "What the hell is this? Joey, this is like the mansion I was in around July...almost an exact replica." Joey remembered everything Leon told him about the incident. He remembered Chris was with the STARS Alpha Team at the time of it all. "Yeah. You were with Alpha team in the Arklay mountains. Leon told me everything about it. He studied that incident like he was studying for a final exam in high school." Joey observed the place and noticed a familiar figure laying down on the floor. "Oh my god, it's Claire!" He pointed out to Chris. Chris ran over to Claire to check on her. She was alive and unconscious. "Claire!...Claire!" Chris spoke out to his little sister in an attempt to wake her up. It worked as Claire came around. She slowly looked up to her big brother. "Oh my god, Chris!" Claire jumped up and hugged her brother tight. They missed each other greatly and now the Redfields were reunited. "I've been so worried!" "You kidding me? I thought tough girls like you didn't get worried." Both siblings shared a laugh that was needed after so long. "What happened? How did you get here?" "Leon contacted me." Claire's eyebrows arched up in surprise. "Leon? You know him?" "Yeah. He told me all about the message you sent him after you got captured." Chris's smile in his face turned serious as he was about to drop a bombshell on Claire. "Claire, I need you to listen to what I'm about to say and I need your word that you will remain calm about it, ok?" Claire had a confused look on her face but nodded in agreement to her brothers words. It was time. "Not only do I thank Leon for telling me about you, I have to thank your "friend" for helping me get here." "What?" Claire was still confused but all that changed when a familiar voice returned to her. "Hey Claire." Claire turned around and was once again overtaken with disbelief as she gazed upon Joey. Claire couldn't speak. Her jaw remained open as she was looking at the man who took a bullet for her and died. "J-Joey?!" Claire walked closer to the young Kennedy and places her hand on his chest where he was shot. "How...how can this be?!...Joey...is it really you?!" Claire was once again tearful with Joey also entering a saddened state. "Yes, Claire. It's me. I'm here." Claire was gasping for air in disbelief but she finally closed in and embraced him tight. Chris stood from afar and smiles at the scene. His sister and Joey truly were something special. Claire wiped her face and spoke. "Joey...how is this possible?! You..you died! You were shot!" Joey took a deep breath and explained as much as he could. "I honestly don't know, Red. You're right, I should be dead but I'm not. Chris and I think I'm still alive because maybe I somehow got infected." Claire couldn't believe what she just heard and didn't want to believe it. "Infected?! But how? You were never bit or anything!" Joey shrugged his shoulders. He was just as lost as she is. "I really don't know, Claire. But you better believe that we are gonna get answers to this. But right now and I'm sure I can speak for Chris on this, I'm just so happy to see you alive and well." The two lovebirds finally smiled but with tears of joy overtaking their eyes. Claire pulled Joey in for a kiss to return the favor and indeed solidify their love. Chris looked away awkwardly but still smiling to see that Claire was happy and that's all he wants to see. The two retreated and stood close heads touching. "I really want to say this right now. Claire, I am so sorry. I'd never leave you alone like that but I didn't want you to get hurt." "It's ok Joey. You were just keeping your promise." The two finally laughed again. It was a true heart warming moment until it was ruined by a feminine devilish laugh.

Claire frowned…"Alexia." She said simply. "Oh, you know my name." Alexia replied. Chris stood stern while Claire and Joey were confused. Claire continued. "We thought you were dead." Alexia laughed again. "No, I've just been hibernating for fifteen years to become one with the Veronica Virus. I can however say that same thing to your boyfriend over there." Joey scoffed at Alexia's line. He felt insulted but also felt it was now to get answers. "Oh ho. You're real funny, lady. You and your brother, Which brings me to ask, what the hell did you two do to me?! I should be dead!" Joey grew agitated with Claire trying to calm him down. Alexia could not help find his rage enjoyable. "Aren't you just so cute angry? But now that I have a better look at you, there is something off about you. It seems as if you are infected by the Veronica virus but..it seems different." This news brought Joey down to his knees with a sea of silent Nos. "No….it can't be…" Claire got down as well to comfort him. "I don't know how you did this but you're gonna pay!" Alexia laughed at Claire's threat. "Please, poor child. I have better things to attend to. Like my other experiment. You're friend awaits you in the coliseum. Don't be late." Alexia ran off through the door upstairs, leaving the trio like sitting ducks. "She's gotta be talking about Steve. Let's go!" Joey, Chris and Claire had to dash through the first floor to find the coliseum as the staircase going up was destroyed. The mansion would not be complete without zombies in it. They didn't stand a chance against the experienced trio. They then finally made their way to a coliseum-like room with Steve in the middle. "Steve!" Claire pointed out. Steve awoke and noticed the trio. "Claire!...Joey?! You're alive?!" Joey scoffed as he walked forward. "That's not the first time I heard that. Steve, what happened?" Suddenly, Alexia made her presence felt. "Ahh, Seems you finally caught up, I left a little gift for you with your little friend there." Alexia was talking from afar while she was talking about Steve, who was trapped by a massive axe level with his neck, embedded in a stone support pillar. Alexia could not be heard anymore and left, while Claire went over to Steve. "Claire, she injected me with something, I don't know what, or what's going to happen to me-" He suddenly stopped speaking, as his body began to shudder and change, when it was all said and done, there stood a massive green skinned monster. "No, Steve, no!" Claire shouted, she didn't want to lose the young man to bioterrorism, Chris noticed Steve leap an impossible height. "Heads up!" Steve swung his massive axe down, sending up a shower of stone where it hit the floor. Chris, Claire and Joey had already made it to a safe distance. "Look, Claire, we don't have a choice here," Chris pointed out. "We have to run, it's too late for Steve, I'm sorry." Joey didn't agree. "I don't want to be the bearer of bad news Claire, but we have to put him down!" Claire looked at Joey with a surprised look. "What?!" "I'm sorry. I don't like it anymore than you do but he shouldn't be like this. No one should." Chris noted the ladder, "We have to get up high if we are to stand a chance, come on!"

Joey nodded, "I'll hold off Steve while you two make it up there!" Chris looked at him incredulously. "Kid, did you hit your head at some point? How the hell are you going to protect my sister if Steve cleaves you in half?" Joey mulled it over while dodging an axe swing that seemed to almost rend the air. "Point made!" Joey relented as he scrambled up the ladder. Chris shook his head. "Ah, don't be like that! I was just trying to diffuse the tension!" It didn't take long for Steve to catch up as he took a huge leap, clinging to the wall opposite of the central pillar, "He's about to charge!" Joey said. Steve roared loudly, and jumped, using his axe to smash the platform out from under the trio's feet. Claire, Joey and Chris screamed of fear from the fall. Joey with all of his quickness pulled Claire towards him and embraced her with him taking the damage from the fall. The trio hit the ground hard but Claire was safe as she landed on Joey thanks to his plan. They struggled to stand but made it to their feet as Chris observed Joey and Claire. "Joey, Are you ok?" Joey was still on the floor in some pain from the fall but managed to answer Claire. "Forget me. Are you alright?" Claire smiled for a bit and nodded. Chris stood back with a smile on his face again as Joey proved his point big time that he can protect his little sister no matter what. "Atta boy, kiddo." The trio regrouped and searched around for Steve. "Holy shit! Look!" Joey pointed out Steve on the ground impaled with his own axe. "No! No, Steve!" Claire shouted as she made her way towards him. "Claire, Wait!" Joey attempted to stop Claire but suddenly was startled by the ground around them erupting. Alexia's vine-like "friends" had return to terrorize the trio once again.

The "vines" swayed in the air for a brief second before homing in on the trio with deceptive speed, one of them snatching up Claire. Joey and Chris has no doubt that these possessed more than enough strength to rip one in half. In a moment of clarity, Steve made what would be his final desperate gamble. With his massive axe in hand, he sliced the vine in two, and Claire dropped to the ground; but in reprisal, another one of these vines impaled Steve against the central pillar, withdrawing as he reverted to a normal state with his last breaths.

Claire ran over to the young man. "Steve!" Joey and Chris held back, with Chris catching Joey's arm as he tried to approach, nodding in the negative. Steve cracked a small smile. "Hey, Claire." Claire was distraught, there was little hope Steve was going to survive this. "Hold on, we're gonna get you out of here!" Claire attempted to reassure him, for what little it was worth. "No, I'm not gonna make it, you know that. The virus is in me, there's no turning back." "No, you're coming with us!" He put a hand up to Claire's face. "Claire, I-" He struggled to finish what he was going to say, but ultimately failed, "Steve! Steve, no…" And so the young man was another casualty of the war on terror, but he would be avenged. Joey finally was allowed to go comfort Claire as she cried into his arms. Chris placed a hand on his sibling's shoulder. "Claire, stay here. I am going to go plant this in the power room." He held up a remote explosive. Claire stood up. "I'm coming with you, Alexia has to be stopped." She turned to Steve once more, "We'll come back for you Steve. I promise." Chris went ahead to check the hallway while Joey cleaned Claire's face up from the tears. They then caught up with Chris who had already gotten the door open to the control room. The trio entered and immediately came face to face with Alexia, who had been waiting for them. "My experiment at the Coliseum was so much fun, don't you think?" The trio was armed with their pistols aimed right at Alexia. As they walked forward cautiously, Claire and Joey noticed Alexia's slippers on the floor. It was quite odd they were just there on the mesh floor. The slipper was no longer in question as a vine from Alexia came from behind quick and smacked Chris in the back so hard he flew forward. "Chris!" Claire shouted. Alexia continued her raving as Chris laid on the floor in pain. "Though I guess a worker ant will turn on his queen." Claire and Joey ignored Alexia's madness and attended to Chris. "Chris! Are you OK?" "Oh that's right! You two are brother and sister. I had a brother once too." Joey looked up at Alexia once he heard her mention Alfred. He had enough and gave her a piece of his mind. "You can stop right there, princess. We know about your brother. He was a sick, twisted demented fool who deserved to die! Just...like...you!" Joey had his Desert Eagle aimed right at Alexia and he would then be joined by the Redfields. Claire stood by her significant other's side with her Browning HP pistol aimed at Alexia as well. "I could not agree more. It's over Alexia! We are not here to serve you!" Alexia laughed at Claire's comment. "Serve me? No. I think everyone else is here to serve my experiments." As Alexia finished, her gloved hands were suddenly on fire and soon, so was the rest of her body. Alexia had transformed into a green, leafy form of herself with her hands still on fire. All thanks to the Veronica Virus. Joey, Claire and Chris could not believe what they were seeing and slowly gained some distance from the new and improved Alexia. "This just gets better and better!" Chris sarcastically said. "Please tell me I will not become THAT!" Joey's remark did bring wonder to the Redfield siblings. Would that happen to Joey over time? The trio didn't pause to worry about it for too long, with the proverbial murderous elephant in the room. Initially, Alexia was irritatingly relaxed, pausing only to fling flaming blood at any, or all, of the group, but as more and more damage was dealt, she began to mutate, into a more ant like creature, that was stationary, but nonetheless, very deadly.

"Christ, she justs more ugly by the minute, huh?" Joey muttered, lining up his trusty Desert Eagle with Alexia's face, the impact of which caused her to pitch backward, this was to keep her from turning her focus towards the Redfield siblings. Joey narrowly dodged a volley of fireballs, he noticed that time seemed to slow, sort of like bullet time. Was this part of the effects of his newly gained viral abilities? He smirked, as the area behind him glowed orange. Claire and Chris meanwhile were focused on trying to destroy this grotesque new body of the deranged genius. Before bullets could fire again, a mysterious male voice can be heard through speakers. "If you are seeing this message, that could only mean that Code: Veronica has reached a critical stage." Alexia recognized the voice and labeled the man simply "Father?!" Joey and Claire only knew who that was as they both said his name. "Alexander Ashford!" Alexander continued the message. "The year is 1983 and I am afraid my only daughter has become obsessed with the Veronica Virus. She has even gone to the point of experimenting on her own body." As Alexander spoke, Alexia continued to evolve into her new twisted and grotesque form. "My daughter dreams of unleashing this thing into the world. This last step is the only way I can think of to help her." What Alexander was referring to was behind Alexia in the form of some kind of special weapon. It was labeled the Linear Launcher. "Whether you are on Umbrella's side or not, please help her." With those last words, Alexander's message ended. Alexia's new form was complete and appeared to look like some sort of plant with her sticking out on top. "Even though it was he who created my brother and I, he was such a miserable old man." 'Initiating Linear Launcher charge. Energy charge for Linear Launcher initiated.'

Claire growled in irritation. "Maybe, but we can't get to it from here." "Either way, we need to take her out and fast. Otherwise, we're dead." Chris said grimly. "Seriously?!" More of Alexia's vines creeped through the walls. "Look, they're coming!" The trio narrowly managed to dodge the plants assault as they closed the gap in an attempt to finish the madwoman once and for all. "Watch out!" Claire said as she slid under one of the vines to dodge it's vicious swipe. After laying round after round into her, Alexia paused. "What the hell is that?" "She's...regenerating!" Joey got their attention, "Uh guys, we kinda need to speed it up here!" Joey shouted as he dodged Alexia's attacks. "She's not going down easy, is she?" Chris pointed out. 'Charge complete, safety lock will now disengage. Please avoid contact with anything other than the Linear Launcher.' Joey decided to take a risk, and make a beeline for the Linear Launcher, he picked it up, swerved to face Alexia and fired, the force making him back pedal a few steps. "Goddamn, that is powerful." Joey tried to fire it again. "Shit, what the hell?" "It's recharging! We'll stall her for you!" Claire nodded, and pulled out the twin SMG's she had acquired so many hours ago, unloading clip after clip into Alexia. Chris pelted her with potshots from his Glock 17, while Joey scrambled with the Linear Launcher to dodge Alexia. When it recharged, Joey fired once more. This time the shot made a direct hit. "YEAH! TAKE THAT!" Joey screamed in victory. Alexia's monstrous body struggled greatly in pain but ultimately fell flat as she and her tentacles fell and stopped moving. Alexia may have finally died. The trio regrouped and watched Alexia for movement. "Is she dead?" Claire asked. "I think so. Hope so." Joey replied. "You two ok?" The Redfields nodded at Joey with smiles on their faces. That's all Joey needs to know. "Let's get outta here." The trio turned around and walked away toward the exit which oddly enough is still blocked by Alexia's vines. "Shouldn't those be down now?" Joey asked. Claire had a bad feeling to why they still were up. She turned around to discover that her bad feeling was a reality. Alexia had still life in her. She now was in the form of a dragonfly flying around so fast, she was hard to aim at. "We have to get closer!" Chris shouted. Joey nodded to the catwalks on both sides of the wide room.

"Good thinking!" Chris said, as they scrambled up both sides. Joey tried to get a bead on Alexia, but to no avail. "Son of a bitch! Hold still!" He growled. "Claire, Chris! Can you try and slow her down?!" The siblings nodded in the affirmative as they laid down a lead storm into the woman-turned-B.O.W. After a while, she did seem to slow down, Joey took a deep breath, and fired the Linear Launcher. It hit Alexia dead on, and with a final spasm, she exploded into a bright flame. "It's like fireworks!" Joey smirked. "But we're not done yet, we have to go back and get Steve." Claire mentioned. However when the trio returned, there was something amiss. Steve was gone and standing in his place was the last person the trio expected to see. He looked back with an evil smirk and simply said. "Looks like I won again." "Wesker!" Chris pointed out. Albert Wesker had revealed himself once again. "If you are looking for young Steve, he was just hauled into my helicopter where my men are awaiting me. He still holds the Veronica Virus I am very interested in since Alexia is no more. However, I have interest in another subject of mine." Joey growled at Wesker and had enough. "Save it, Goldielocks. I thought I made it clear if I saw you again, I'll kill you!" Joey charged at Wesker with violent intentions. "Joey! Wait!" Chris tried to stop Joey but it was too late. Joey attempted to throw a punch at Wesker but Wesker's incredible speed helped him avoid the hit and throw Joey towards a pillar, shattering it to pieces. Wesker laughed at Joey's reckless attempt. "Leave him alone!" Claire screamed but Wesker simply ignored her and continued to torment Joey who had just risen from the ground. "Do you really think you can hurt me?" Joey took Wesker's comment as a way of mocking him. He did get him before, he can do it again. Joey regained himself and kept swinging at the crazed former S.T.A.R.S captain. Wesker kept dodging and dodging when he got what he wanted to see. Joey was about to hit Wesker who was backed up against another pillar. Wesker dodged and Joey punched through the concrete with ease. The Redfields were shocked and so was Joey. His strength had indeed increased thanks to the virus he holds in his body. Joey once again charged at Wesker but this time Wesker stopped the dodging and initiated in close quarter combat with Joey. The two were able to dodge each other's hits one right after the other. Both men were slowly starting to show fatigue as the fight drew on. Joey was able to get the last hit and the last laugh as he finally connected a punch to Wesker's jaw. The hit was so powerful it sent Wesker stumbling back a few steps. Chris was truly in shock. He could not believe Joey had gotten the best of his former captain. Feeling that is was necessary to add insult to injury, Joey picked up a quite heavy piece of concrete from a fallen pillar and bashed Wesker upside the face by surprise. This really hurt Wesker as he laid on the ground in pain. Joey started to stumble and fall back on the ground. The Redfields were quick to stand by Joey's side and help him up. They were indeed proud of him for actually taking down Wesker. To their surprise however, Wesker had recovered fast and got up to stand face to face with the trio. "You have won this round, Joey. I commend you. All my theories have been proven to bear truth." Joey was confused but it was safe to think it was the perfect chance for answers. "What are you talking about?!" Joey asked. "The reason you stand before us instead of facing the cold death you originally had is indeed because you are infected with the Veronica Virus." Wesker's explanation brought grim feeling to the trio. Especially to Joey as he placed a hand on his chest where he was shot. Joey wanted more answers. "I died because I was shot. How did I get infected then? And why haven't I ended up like Alexia and Steve?" The million dollar question had finally been asked and Wesker was more than happy to answer. "How you got infected is believed to be when you got shot. The bullet that entered your chest and caused you to fall was no ordinary bullet. It was actually a capsule containing a special enhanced sample of the Veronica Virus that it supposedly is to prevent the problems the original sample had. Which was in turn devised to prevent the virus from taking full control of the host and create the perfect B.O.W. It was supposedly all a fairy tale but now I see it is indeed a reality. Joey, you are the perfect B.O.W." "No!" Joey shouted. He heard more than enough that he wanted to. He was indeed convinced he was now a monster. Joey was now suffering from a headache from all the stress he just endured. Claire attempted to comfort Joey and shushed and whispered to him everything will be ok. Wesker continued his blabbering. "I have a great interest in how you are able to maintain your humanity and mindset as I believe from observations, it could be a result of a change in genetics. Now I could kill you right now and take a sample of your blood but in all fairness you did get the best of me and you have allies by your side that could make things more interesting. So I shall you leave you to enjoy your time." As Wesker finished, his helicopter ride arrived from above and dropped down a ladder for their boss to climb. Wesker looked back with an evil smile on his face. "Be warned though, Joseph. When you least expect it, I will get my hands on that sample. I do not care how long it takes. I will hunt you down! If those close to you attempts to get involved, they...will...DIE!" Joey felt faint for a second as those words sent massive chills down his spine. He truly was uncomfortable with Wesker's dark promise to him. He didn't want to get captured but most importantly, he didn't want those he cares for to die. As the trio looked back, Wesker had already left to no doubt continue his diabolical plans of evil, leaving the trio scarred. As Wesker left, so too did they, with Chris remembering the Harrier jet in the hangar. "We don't have much time, we have to speed things up." Chris noted as they entered the hangar, with Joey helping Claire up while Chris sat himself in the pilots seat, Joey then scrambled up the wing, while Claire did an odd maneuver, moving out of the way while Joey sat in the seat, with Claire positioning herself on his lap. The sun was rising over the sea as they lifted off, they had fought, they had cemented friendships, laughed, fought the fear, lost, but ultimately survived, as dawn broke, they swore they would continue to fight in the memory of people such as that of Steve Burnside, Joey looked out of the window at the vast expanse of blue, Claire meanwhile, had fallen asleep. Their fight however, was far from over.


	6. A Darkening Cloud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris Redfield and the newly formed lovebirds of Joey Kennedy and Claire Redfield arrive back home to the states where medics and a worried Leon S.Kennedy awaits. What will Leon think of Joey's new viral abilites? What event will further traumitize Joey to the point of his radical decision in the end? How will will his loved ones react?

The Antarctic base that was once owned by Umbrella and the Ashford twins, Alfred and Alexia who were now both deceased, was destroyed. Thanks to the trio that got away safely in a jet plane heading toward home. The pilot was an exhausted former S.T.A.R.S member, Chris Redfield. He arrived in Antarctica to save his sister, Claire Redfield was captured by Umbrella. Claire was safe and sound in the backseat of the plane in the arms of her new boyfriend and new friend to Chris, Joey Kennedy. Joey is the brother of Leon Kennedy who informed Chris of Claire and Joey's situation. Joey arrived to save Claire with him having feelings for her. During the whole experience, Joey and Claire became an item. Joey may have successfully rescued Claire but he got more than what he wanted. When Alfred attempted to kill Claire, Joey got in the way and took the bullet for her. He was dead for some time but was resurrected thanks to the Veronica Virus. The large bloodstain and gun hole on Joey's white shirt under his open grey plaid shirt said it all. While it is a mystery why Joey showed no major change in mind aside from enhanced strength, speed and agility and fast healing, he was happy to be out of that nightmare with the girl of his dreams sleeping on his lap. How would he explain this to Leon was gonna be difficult.

On a private airspace in Washington D.C, there awaited many cops, ambulances and the Secret Service to welcome The Redfields and Joey back. home. Leon of course was there, anxious to see them return. The suited up Kennedy's eyes widened when he noticed a jet plane arrive and prepare to land. It was them. The plane landed peacefully and the latches opened to reveal the trio. Claire and Joey holding hands did not go unnoticed by the older of the Kennedy siblings, which he simply gave a small smirk, folding his arms, his composure was rapidly broken when Joey put him in a headlock and startled ruffling his hair, "You look good bro! All official and stuff, never thought I'd see the scrappy cop become a secret agent!" Claire smiled at Leon, shaking her head. Claire broke off from the scene to go greet her older brother, a man slightly more bulky than Leon, and even though they were fellow ex S.T.A.R.S. members they never actually met in person. "So, you must be Claire's brother." Chris grinned. "Yup, and you must be the one she's been talking so much about, Leon . Good to meet you, not every day I get to meet a secret service agent." Leon waved, "Not really a big deal, mostly just protective detail in my case." Leon noticed something mildly off, Joey had his overshirt closed, which he never did. He closed the gap between him and the young man, and opened the jacket. "Hey-" There was a hole in his white shirt, circled by blood, Leon surmised it was a bullet entry wound. "You're going to explain all of this to me in private." Joey had a nervous look on his face but so did Claire and Chris who knew the whole story. "Soooo, do we take a cab?" Chris asked. "Hell no, if you're gonna ride with the Secret Service, we do this shit in style." Leon smirked, "Follow me." He lead his comrades to an underground garage, leading them to his car, a Maserati Coupe, Joey went slack jawed. "How in the hell can a new Secret Service member afford this kinda car? And secondly, can I drive?" Leon cleared his throat. "I have my ways, and to answer your second question, hell no. I have a couple rules in this car, watch the leather, and no food nor drink. Got it? Good, awesome, now lets do this." Leon started up his new toy and accelerated like a bat out of hell out of the underground garage and onto the streets of D.C. Leon and Chris were enjoying the ride. Their siblings however were just hoping to just get out of this alive after what they just went through. On the right of the car was the White House. The trio was amazed to see it in person. It was a rather large building as expected. Leon turned left down the street and pulled up to an apartment complex. A bit of a disappointing sight as the place was like any other in the U.S. Leon parked up front and led the tired group up to Leon's apartment on the 4th floor. "Home, Sweet home. Make yourselves at home." Leon said as he welcomed his allies into his place. It wasn't anything too special for a secret service agent but it did Leon well enough. Chris collapsed on the couch along with Joey and Claire making themselves truly comfortable. It was well needed after that cold day in hell. Leon pulled up a chair in front of the trio and was now focused on Joey.

"That hole in your shirt, looks a lot like an entry point for a bullet. Almost near the heart which i'm more than sure is fatal. I am glad that you are, but care to explain to me how you are still breathing?" Joey sighed, "To put it in the short term, when I went to go save Claire, there was a maniac named Alfred Ashford. He was going to shoot Claire so I took the bullet. I was injected with an experimental virus, and death did not claim me, hence why I am sitting here in front of you." Claire nodded in the affirmative for verification of this wild tale. "Well, I'll be damned. I suppose in normal circumstances, I'd be alarmed. But honestly, I am just relieved that you're alright." Leon said, leaning back in his chair. Joey heaved a sigh of relief, "And here I thought that you wouldn't take it very well." Leon scoffed. "You're my brother, and you took a bullet for the one you loved. That's one of humanity's finest virtues, sacrifice. In a world where the never ending war that is survival never changes, people must change, and subsequently, so too must their symbols." The poetry threw Joey off a little but it made sense. "I met Wesker by the way." Joey said, with this the color almost seemed to drain out of the room. "He apparently wanted to get a sample of my blood to see if he could crack the mystery of how I assimilated with the virus without suffering horrific mutation, and said that if anyone tried intervene on my behalf, he'd kill them without a second thought."

Leon grit his teeth. "I wasn't there for when he ratted out S.T.A.R.S., but judging from the sound of things, my suspicions of him not truly being dead were right. Wesker is in the Secret Service database, though admittedly we haven't been able to monitor him that close, which makes sense as he acted as a counterintelligence officer when he was still in the employ of Umbrella. I'm honestly not permitted to say more on the subject, especially to civilians." He winced as the last word left his mouth. "Consequence of being pretty low on the government totem pole." "He's very much alive, Leon." Chris interrupted. "I know Wesker longer than anyone. When he says something, he means it." Chris's point didn't do much to help ease the mood. Leon noticed Joey's sudden disturbed look. Joey was truly disturbed by Wesker's threat and it was fairly obvious. "Joey?...Are you ok?" Claire and Chris noticed Joey's quiet state but was snapped out of it when Claire touched Joey's face. "It's bothering you really bad, isn't it?" She asked. Joey silently nodded yes and stood up from the couch and looked out the window. "What if Wesker means it? What if he really will hunt me down like a dog just for this thing I carry?" Leon got up from his chair and joined his brother. "Joey, the secret service can protect you. We can have you locked down somewhere" "Can they protect me from him? I don't think so." Joey said as he turned to face his brother. "I fought with him man and he is far from human man. He's like me but worse! He's fast, he's strong and one evil son of a bitch!" Leon had a stern look on his face with what Joey said. "I don't ever want you to say you two are alike because that is far from true." Joey nodded and took back what he said. "I'm sorry...You're right. I'm better than that freak show." He was still nervous about the thought of him and his loved ones being haunted by Wesker. The Redfields joined the Kennedys by the window and thought is was best to lighten the mood. "Hey now." Chris said. "We shouldn't be stuck in this depressing mood. We should be happy that we survived and that we're home safe." "He's right." Claire then saying, "We should move on with our normal lives. Go out and celebrate our return home and to just be happy." Claire's idea sounded like a damn good one. It changed Joey's frown to a smile. "I'd love to join you guys but as a secret service agent, duty calls." Leon said nervously. Joey looked at his older brother with a smirk. "Now and always will be a boy scout huh? Well that just leaves me with you two." Joey said pointing to the Redfields."It'll be fun. We'll get to know each other better and under normal circumstances." Claire walked up to Joey and held his hands in hers. "And I think it's safe to say we can properly date." Claire looked up to Joey and winked at him. The young Kennedy was pretty convinced it was time to chill out and have fun. "Yeah, Leon. We'll be just fine."

On January 4th, 1999 in Tokyo, Japan, a rather large man was running down the street like he was being chased. But he was really late for a meeting he had to be there for. The man entered an apartment complex which looked abandoned for years. He walked down a flight of steps to reach a door locked with a special key that the man had. He opened the door and revealed a metal staircase leading down more below the building. He entered a hallway made of steel with a metal sliding door at the end. This man had a smirk on his face as he checked his watch and knew he would be right on time. He placed his face into a retinal scanner for his eyes to be checked and identified. The monitor next to the scanner revealed the man's name. Hector Hivers, a.k.a BELTWAY. Beltway entered the meeting room where his comrades, Vector, Foureyes and Lupo awaited with another man sitting at the end of the room in a chair labeled, "3rd Organization". "Right on time, Mr. Hivers." A cold voice taken the room silent and the man sitting in the center chair turned around and revealed himself as the leader of the 3rd Organization. His name was Albert Wesker. Beltway took a seat next to his comrades and stood silent as Wesker spoke. "I am very obliged that all of you were able to take the time to come here at my request. I am sure you are wondering why would someone like me invite all of you here?" "Yes." Vector answered. "Could you explain why you called his down here ? I do not mind seeing my comrades again but being invited here by the likes of you?" Wesker smiled at Vector's speech and gave him the answer. "Right you are to question me , especially with my former affiliation with Umbrella and your mentor, I too would even be curious." Wesker turned around and turned on a projector and on the screen was a video file all about Wesker's favorite test subject. On the screen showed white bright text along with pictures of the subject. The subject was Joey Kennedy. The Wolfpack reunited were surprised to see the young man again as they had crossed paths and escaped Raccoon with his brother's group of survivors. Lupo was the more shocked of the group. Never she thought she would see the name Kennedy ever again, especially with her hidden feelings for Leon. Wesker once again spoke. "Here is indeed a familiar name for you. Joey Kennedy. Brother of former R.P.D officer and now Secret Service agent, Leon ." Wesker kept flipping through slides showing the younger Kennedy in action. Even some photos showed him along side his love, Claire. The last slide played a video of Joey's tragic death and his resurrection thanks to the Veronica Virus. The Wolfpack was truly shocked and confused as to how did he die then come back to life? Wesker got up with a grin and answered that thought in their minds. "What you saw ladies and gentlemen is the great power of the Veronica Virus. Bring our dear young Joseph back to life and better than ever." Lupo interrupted Wesker. "How is this possible? He shows no signs of infection or mutation!" "That, my dear Karena, is what you four are here to discover." Lupo cringed with Wesker stating her by her first real name but still wondered what he meant. "I have invited you here to assist me in my research on discovering why Joey is able to retain his human form and have how his strength, speed and agility have significantly increased. I want you to track down Joseph and with any means necessary, capture him and take him in for testing. If anyone of his allies get in the way, kill them on sight! Do I make myself clear?!" The pack wondered about the last request, especially Lupo. The fact that she may be forced to kill either Leon or Claire. She struggled with the thought that she was enamored with Leon and the fact that if Claire was with Joey, she may be forced to take the life of someone that means so much to Joey. It was obvious in Raccoon the two would be something special and they did. Even though she struggled to stand up, her and her comrades saluted to Wesker and agreed to Wesker's mission. "Yes sir!" The Wolfpack exited the room and entered an armory room filled with gear setup for them. They geared up with their guns locked and loaded and headed out to locations where Joey could be found.

On the next day of January 5th at 12:00 noon, Joey Kennedy was seen walking down a sidewalk in Washington D.C holding hands with his beautiful girlfriend now a TerraSave Member, Claire Redfield. The two were walking toward a fancy cafe to just sit down, relax and enjoy each other's company. "You think Leon will actually get some time off today?" Claire prompted. Joey shrugged. "Hopefully he will, we came all this way to spend some time with him. Hopefully the higher ups will be lenient." The couple's order of lunch came to their table with both having a cup of coffee. Joey was hesitant to drink it as he never tried coffee before. The smell of it always drew him away. "Ok, this is gonna sound crazy, but I never drank coffee before." Claire's eyes lit up with shock as she put her cup down to face Joey. "What?! Tell me you're kidding!" "Haha nope. I just never likes the small and don't get what the big deal is." Claire put Joey's cup in his hands and lifted it up to his mouth. "You are not going anywhere until you try one sip." Joey chuckled at Claire's attempt to make him drink it. He looked into her beautiful blue eyes and was a bit surprised how serious she was. "Ahh what the hell?" Joey took a small sip of the coffee and put the cup down. After a while, the coffee kicked in and forced Joey to cringe his face up like no other. He did not like it at all. Claire was dying of laughter. Her boyfriend's face was priceless as he wiped his mouth. "I am so sorry! I guess you really don't like it!" "Ya think?" Joey joined in on the laugh until it died down. They both shared another deep stare moment into each others eyes as they said the same thing at the same time. "I love you." As they reached in to kiss, Joey noticed a strange hooded figure dressed in black outside the diner, staring right at him. It was truly unnerving. Joey felt like he recognized the figure but that was the least of his worries. Three other people dressed in black stood up alongside the hooded man. There were two women and one big man. It finally came back to Joey as he saw them together. It was the Wolfpack from Raccoon City. Joey stood up from his table and Claire finally noticed them too. She held Joey's arm close and tight as she was now scared. Beltway took out a shotgun and blasted down the glass windows and doors, sending shattered glass flying in the air. Everyone else took cover while Joey and Claire still stood with Joey covering the young Redfield to protect her from the glass.

It was now that Vector lead the group into the cafe to apprehend their target. Joey moved Claire aside as he engaged in combat with Vector. The more he thought about it, it was coming back to him, these were the ones in Raccoon City that were supposed to eliminate all the evidence of it ever happening. "I thought that we had to come an understanding!" Joey grit his teeth. Vector scoffed. "You seriously thought that just because the Wolf Mother has the hots for your sibling? Things aren't so simple kid, and even so, this? It's just business." The struggle for a gun ended when Vector retreated and roundhouse kicked Joey to so hard he fell down to the ground instantly. He was fast to get up but was then held up at gunpoint. Beltway closed in and detained Joey with Vector's help. Lupo approached Joey who was struggling for his life to get free. "Please, do not make this any more harder than it already is." "Stop!" Behind Lupo appeared Claire, who wanted to plead with the pack. "Please, you don't have to do this! Just let him go and leave us be. We don't want any issues. " Lupo looked at Claire with a disturbed face. She did not want to bring harm to the couple but she had a job to do. "Sorry, sweetheart." Vector said. "We have our orders." Claire stood up to Vector and looked him dead in the eyes though his mask. "Just a mercenary doing his job for money. You're pathetic." and with that, Claire winded back and slapped Vector as hard as she could. Vector was angry but would never hit a women. Foureyes can however as she took the butt of her gun and smashed it against Claire's head, knocking her down. "No! Claire!" Joey screamed. Lupo was shocked. She for one did not want this to happen. Neither what was about to happen next. Joey grew angry and struggled once again with Beltway and Vector. He finally grew free and attacked the soldiers. He gave Beltway a brutal headbutt that actually smashed his helmet and sent him down. He then grabbed Vector and proceeded to brutally attack him punch after punch until he just threw him across the cafe. Joey then met eyes with Foureyes who was scared out of her life. In the heat of the moment, she squeezed the trigger of her gun and lit Joey up with a few round of her SMG. Joey was backed against the wall with a bloody shirt once again. "Joey!" Claire screamed out. Lupo smacked Foureyes' gun out of her hand. "You idiot! Why did you fire?!" "I am...sorry! He was going to kill me!" They looked back at the young Kennedy and noticed to their shock and terror, he was still standing. He pulled up his shirt and noticed that the gunshots were gone and the wounds had healed. The virus had made Joey somewhat impervious to bullets. Joey was shocked but was quickly overtaken with more anger. He leapt at Foureyes, grabbed her gun and broke it in half with ease. Joey then shoved the gun's remains into Foureyes which was enough to knock her down. Joey then locked eyes with Lupo who had already dropped her gun and surrendered to him. "Please I did not want this to happen. Honest!" Joey scoffed and gave Lupo the cold shoulder. He now focused on his fallen love Claire who was hurt, in tears of fear and still on the floor. He helped her up to her feet and embraced her tightly. He kept whispering "Shh. It's ok. It's gonna be alright." Joey helped Claire leave the now destroyed cafe with Lupo and her comrades down on the ground with Lupo the only one fully awake. The Wolfpack did not expect this to happen. They had no idea the virus was so powerful to make the host almost invincible. No doubt they had some not so nice words for Wesker.

Lupo went around to pick up her team, and report back to Wesker. "He certainly didn't tell us you were this strong. We will meet again, Mr. Kennedy, and then we shall see if fate truly has your back when we do." Joey narrowed his eyes, "We had better clear out before the cops show up, which will be any minute." Claire arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's the greatest idea to just up and run?" "Yes! As long as you are not in any danger!" Joey said with a stern look. Claire relented, if there was one thing she knew it was that just like his older brother, Joey could be rather stubborn. "We'll just go back to Leon's place." Joey said, running a hand through his hair, "What a day…" Joey and Claire made their way down to Leon's apartment complex and made their way up to his room that is 5B. Joey knew Leon left a spare key on top of the door frame. He took it and made their way into the apartment. "You go sit down and I'll make you something." Joey told Claire. Claire did such as Joey went into the bathroom to throw out his bloody shirt and check his body. There was no sign of damage apart from the scar from the original bullet wound that killed him. This must be another perk of Veronica. Joey was uneasy about it but was happy to still be alive. Joey left the bathroom and grabbed a new shirt to put on. He made his way to the kitchen and cooked up a nice hot cup of tea for Claire, who Joey noticed was still shook that they were attacked in broad daylight. Joey brought the tea immediately to Claire and embraced her close to comfort her. He told her the same thing he said at the cafe. That everything is gonna be alright. But deep down, Joey felt he was lying to himself. He was the one who felt things were not ok. He was also truly bothered by the fact that they were attacked in broad daylight by mercenaries sent by Wesker. It was worse that Claire was hurt during the attack. Joey was lost in his thoughts. What could he do to prevent danger to his loved ones?

An hour passed and the couple was asleep on the couch with the TV on. They were awakened by the sound of the front door unlocking. It was Leon making his way in so casually. Obviously he did not hear what happened at the cafe and was surprised that his brother and friend were already in his apartment. "Well look who it is." He smirked, before failing to stifle a yawn."It's amazing how much shit can cram itself into one work day…" Leon muttered. He took a seat on the chair across from the couch and faced the couple. "Man, where the hell were you today?" Joey asked with somewhat an angry tone. "Well i'm sorry bro. It ain't easy being a Secret Service agent. I'm sorry I couldn't get off early, but I'm sure you guys had fun being together right?" Leon's question brought a grim look to the couple's face. "You guys ok? Why the spooked look?" Before they could answer Leon's question, the breaking news theme song blasted out on the TV. Who knew the news would actually be helpful for once? "Around noon today there was a large disturbance as a group of heavily armed individuals stormed into a downtown cafe for reasons unknown, for reasons still being investigated, these individuals fled the scene almost as quickly as they came. As of right now most of the details on the story remain vague. Witnesses on the scene say that they saw the armed individuals target a couple just minding their own business in the cafe. A young male with brown hair and a young woman with red hair. It is said that things were quickly violent as the young man engaged in combat with the armed individuals. We'll have more on this story as it develops." Leon grabbed the remote and turned off the TV as he had heard enough.

"Brown hair eh? I wonder who that could be?" Leon muttered, it was clear by his tone he was exasperated. "You can't seem to stay out of trouble these days can you?" He shrugged. Joey grew a little agitated at Leon's snarky comments. "This isn't funny, Leon! Me and Claire were attacked in broad daylight and she got hurt. Remember those Wolfpack assholes from Raccoon? They attacked us!" "What?" Leon became shocked. He thought they ended on a good, peaceful note. Apparently not. "Yeah. Your little "girlfriend" was there too. Lupo, I think. She tried to stop the other bitch from shooting me down like a dog." Leon grew more shocked now and had to stand up to Joey's eye level. "What? They shot you?!" Joey nodded. "Yeah. Another perk of the virus is that I am kind of invincible. I don't know if it was supposed to be an assassination or a simple kidnapping gone bad. I don't know alright! All I know is that Wesker sent them and my main gripe is that the same person that shot me up was also the one to give Claire that bruise!" Leon looked at Claire and noticed the bruise on the side of her head. Leon grew disturbed seeing it and seeing Joey was wound up about it. "I'm sorry, I can't do this. I can't have this happen again." With that comment, Joey stormed outside into the hallway and left his brother and girlfriend confused and worried for him. What did he mean by that?

"Suppose we should go after him?" Claire prompted. Leon gave a half hearted smile. "I'll go get him, you just sit tight." Leon pressed a gun into her hands, "Just in case the Wolfpack shows up again. Pay em back for that bruise." He smirked. Claire cracked a smirk of her own as Leon left to talk to Joey. Her smirk then left as she looks down at the gun in her hand and feeling the bruise on her face. Her smirk turned into a frown. In the hallway, Leon found Joey curled up in a ball on the floor with his head drowned in his arms. He truly was scarred by today's events. Leon let out a huge sigh and joined his brother on the floor in a similar position. "Sorry about that crack back there." Leon uttered as he sat down next to his brother. "I understand your day was rough, getting attacked by those we thought were our allies. I guess Wesker has finally begun to make his move, but that's what I don't understand…Why would he want to seize you for your virus? Didn't he already acquire a sample from Steve Burnside?" Joey looked at him. "You knew?" "I'm Secret Service, Joey, there is very little that I don't hear about pertaining to these things." Leon's comment cause Joey to crack a smirk but it didn't last long. "Well, obviously he is fascinated with how I am able to stay normal and maintain in control of my "gifts" so to speak. He thinks maybe it has something to do with my body bonding with the virus or if its a new Veronica virus or something completely new to both of us." Leon turned to look at the floor. He felt sorry for Joey. His brother was being hunted for something he did not want and he does not know how to help him out. "I can't stop thinking about what happened to Claire." Joey said silently. "I don't want that to ever happen again. I don't want her or you or Chris to get hurt." "Joey, we're far from pushovers. If we're all together, we can tackle whatever Wesker throws at us." Joey got up from the floor and looked away from Leon. He had a bombshell to drop and he knew it was gonna be unpopular but necessary for him. "I don't want to take the chance, Leon. I'm sorry….I think it's best that I...stood away for some time." Leon could not believe what he just heard.

"You have to be kidding me, you aren't doing us any favors. You're just running away from your problems! This isn't even about me either, what do you think Claire will think, huh? Joey, you're my brother, and you are also one of my favorite people to be around...But you can be incredibly dense." Joey did not expect this reaction out of Leon. His words were hurtful but were true. Joey finally looked at his brother with stern looks at each other. "I knew this wasn't gonna be a popular choice, and hey! You don't think I know how Claire will react? I know she'll be devastated. I just gotta explain it to her." "Explain what, Joey?" "Explain how I feel." This turned into a shouting match between the brothers. "I just don't want anything to happen to you guys. I won't risk that! It's me he wants, remember? I'm not gonna go away forever man. Just until this whole thing is sorted out. Whether I find him or he finds me and whatever comes first, he'll get his no doubt about." Joey started to tear up now and frail around. "I don't want to leave you guys. I didn't ask for this." Joey in a swift motion, embraced his older brother who was also now in tears.

Leon was left at a loss for words. Leon eventually broke away, giving his brother a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You do what you have to, I can hold down the fort here. I can have Claire placed under Secret Service protection, if need be. She'd need to prove that she happens to be of some strategic value though." Leon clarified. "And you're gonna justify their bullshit?" Joey arched an eyebrow. "Justification has nothing to do with it, I just have to accept it." "Ridiculous…" Joey shook his head. He wanted to be mad at Leon, but he realized that with how things worked, that would be far from fair. "I do not know man. I gotta think about it. If I do agree with it, I want to make sure that when the time comes for me to go, she'll be in good hands and more importantly that she is as comfortable as possible." Leon smirked and nodded in assurance. "Of course. She'll be perfectly safe." Joey took a deep breath and felt better that he had support from Leon on his radical decision. "If it's alright, I don't want to leave right away. I wanna stay for another week or two. Spend as much time as I can with you and Claire." Leon smiled and patted his brother on the back. "I'll talk to my superiors. See if I can get some time off. I owe you anyway." Joey was expecting and also not expecting that answer from Leon, but then again, their sibling bond was the strongest ever known. Leon would do anything to make his brother happy. With that said, they made their way back into Leon's apartment. Claire was still sitting on the couch watching TV. She turned it off and approached the Kennedys. "Is everything alright? I heard shouting." Joey shook his head as he looked at Leon. "Nah. Everything is alright." Leon nodded in agreement with Joey but then took off into the kitchen to give the couple room. "Claire, can we sit? I need to tell you something." "Uhh...ok." Claire was nervous about this. Joey didn't look or sound too good when Joey asked for her to sit and talk. Something was up. The two sat down close next to each other on the couch with Joey looking very uncomfortable to talk. "Something is wrong." Claire said. Joey looked down and admitted by nodding. "That shouting you heard with me and Leon was because of me. I talked about how today was horrifying and seeing you get hurt made it so much worse. You know I would never want anything to happen to you." "Of course. But what was it you said to Leon?" Joey grew silent again. He did not know any other way to say it but it was best he was honest and upfront with her. "Joey, talk to me. You know you can. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can work this out together." Joey grew a smile that lasted for only a second. Hearing Claire being so supportive made it somewhat better with how she'll take the news. It was now or never. "I love you, Claire and I am so happy to hear you say that. But I don't know about this." Claire grew silent now and had a worried look on her face. "I told Leon what I am about to tell you right now. I…..think it's for the better of both of your safety that….I...leave...for a while." There it went. The bombshell was now dropped on Claire. She stood shocked and started to tear up. "Wha...what?" The look on her face killed Joey inside. He grabbed her hands and attempted to comfort her. "Believe me, I know this is not a popular decision. Leon already gave me an earful and if you want to scold me, go ahead. It's have my permission." Claire was still looking away, deep in her thoughts. Joey was hurt and started to struggle talking straight. "I really don't want to do this, Claire, please believe me. But I don't want what happened at the cafe to happen again. I don't want anyone to hurt you or Leon or Chris. Wesker made it clear he wants me for the virus. I can't let that happen either. He wants me, he's gonna have to try to find me."

Claire shook her head. "You and your brother, always trying to save everyone. You do what you have to do, Joey. Everything will be fine here. But you better not leave me hanging too long alright? I have needs." She winked. Joey turned almost cherry red at that last remark, and shook his head, almost as if to dislodge some errant thought that had occurred. "Thank you Claire. I love you." Joey leaned into Claire and engaged into a playful manner. They both already were laughing like crazy after Joey's major decision, but it was all about trust and support. The two lovebirds calmed down and proceeded to kiss comfortably on Leon's couch. Speaking of Leon, he reappeared from the kitchen with a smile on his face. "I see everything is ok." The two lovebirds nodded with smiles of their own. "Oh, I told Leon I wanted to have 2 weeks left to spend as much time as possible with you guys. "That's wonderful but I hope most of it is with me." Joey noticed Claire's seductive tone and laughed as he got up from the couch and picked up Claire bridal style. "You are a naughty redhead! Leon, we need to borrow your room for a while!" "Hey! Wait a min.." Before Leon could finish, Joey slammed the door shut and the lock can be heard turned. "Lovebirds….just don't ruin anything in there!" Leon decided to sit back on his chair and watched whatever channel that was not the news covering the incident in the downtown cafe, and block out any noise that came from his room. These two weeks were sure gonna be long but Leon was really gonna miss Joey when he leaves.


End file.
